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April 2, 2004
Art as a family affair
Vibrant JCC exhibit features father-daughter duos.
SIMA ELIZABETH SHEFRIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Fathers and Daughters, M'Dor L'Dor, From Generation to Generation,
now at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery in the Jewish Community
Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC), is a show that is both passionate
and vibrant. The works are the creations of two father and daughter
teams, Suzy Birstein and her father, Morris Birstein, and Samara
Malkin and her father, Dennis Malkin. The age of the artists ranges
from 11 to 81 years old. "A multigenerational experience makes
this exhibit meaningful, enchanting and joyful," JCC cultural
co-ordinator Reisa Schneider told an audience at the exhibit's opening
reception last week.
Suzy Birstein and Dennis Malkin are both practising artists. They
convinced their family members to join this exhibit.
Dennis Malkin first noticed his daughter's talent when they were
working together creating murals for his son's bar mitzvah. He and
Suzy Birstein did a trade in which Birstein took on Samara as a
private student and, in exchange, Dennis built many of the plinths
for the exhibit, as well as the canvases on which Suzy has incorporated
her ceramic pieces.
Birstein's encouragement of her father to include his work in the
exhibit represents for her, a way of coming full circle. When she
and her husband, Hartley Rosenberg, got married in 1979, her parents
gave her a kiln as a wedding present. "It was a gift for me
as an artist, and for Hartley to have me be an artist, and for my
children to have a mother who was fulfilled as an artist,"
Birstein told the Bulletin.
As professionally trained artists, both Suzy Birstein and Dennis
Malkin have created the more sophisticated work in this show. Both
reference artistic traditions outside their own. Malkin's beautiful
wood sculpture, "Orca," which incorporates portraits of
Samara and other family members, is related to Native art forms.
More subtly, "Ghostflowers" is a nod to Van Gogh. And
his three-dimensional wood carving, "Nude Descending a Staircase,"
is a direct reference to Marcel Duchamp's contentious painting in
the 1913 New York Armory Show. "Three Old Hippies," with
their abstracted beads and long hair offers a different type of
cultural reference.
Suzy Birstein's work is a wild, joyous ceramic stream of consciousness,
with double-faced sculptures that are both expressionist and spiritual.
"My work is an evolution of one thing moving into another,"
she said in an interview. "It evokes all the different cultures
and the way they should be, fully together." Her sculpture
is rich with visual puns and cultural references ranging from Ganesha,
the Hindu elephant deity, to the 1928 popular song (revived on English
pop charts in 1980) "My Baby Just Cares for Me" to a contemporary
reference to Cirque du Soleil. The title, "Duets: Harlequin
Romance" combines the circus Harlequins of Picasso with the
popular novels of today.
"As far back as I can remember," Morris Birstein tells
us in his artist's statement, "I have always had the urge to
draw." In his early adult life in the Royal Canadian Air Force,
this took the form of cartoons for the station's newspaper depicting
life in the forces. "Later, during my career as a chartered
accountant, I had a good opportunity to observe the behavior, attitudes
and lifestyle of my diverse clientele. My wife and I were often
invited to weddings, bar mitzvahs and other simchas that gave me
additional insight into human behavior."
After his retirement, he began to work in clay, creating little
people, three-dimensional cartoons depicting slices of life from
the Jewish community. We warm to his characters and laugh with them,
not at them. In "Dinner for Two," both the older Jewish
couple at a restaurant and their Chinese waiter are respectfully
and sensitively portrayed. In "Shabbat Shalom," he has
captured the very moment in time before two hands meet in the handshake
accompanying the greeting.
Samara's "Fashion Parade" consists of five cutout young
women, standing out from their painted backgrounds, dressed in the
outfits Samara might hope to wear one day. On plinths in front of
each piece are ceramic depictions of the accompanying accessories,
a hat, a purse, a mirror, lipstick, a photo of best friends together.
Her work is delightful and confident, and her pieces were popular
sales items on opening night. She herself is culturally referencing
a world of fashion that is not quite yet her own. When asked how
she liked working with her dad, she told the Bulletin, "It's
fun. I get to spend more time with him."
Fathers and Daughters will be on display at the Zack Gallery until
April 18. Call 604-257-5111 for more information.
Sima Elizabeth Shefrin is a visual artist, writer and
curator. She is currently working for the Society for Disability
Arts and Culture on the upcoming celebration kickstART2, to be held
at the Roundhouse in September.
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