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October 31, 2008
Israel in black 'n' white
Artist's first view of Holy Land infuses his artwork.
PAT JOHNSON
On his first trip to the Holy Land, Vancouver student and artist Paul Curran experienced a profoundly moving moment at an ancient religious site. Visiting the burial cave of the patriarch Abraham, in the West Bank city of Hebron, Curran happened upon a brit milah (circumcision ceremony) taking place at the very site where the originator of the covenant is laid to rest.
"That experience will stay with me the rest of my life," said Curran, 22, who has an image of the simchah in a new art exhibit. "Here I was, as a Jew in a Jewish state, witnessing a young boy becoming a part of the covenant at the exact site where the father of monotheism is laid to rest. This is something that is so profound that it allowed me not only to feel the connection between the land and the religion, but feel as an actor in the continuing saga of the Jewish people."
The brit at Abraham's tomb is one of the images viewers will see in Curran's exhibit B'Eretz Hakodesh [In the Holy Land], which opens Nov. 7 at the Yaletown Brewing Co.
All of the pieces in this exhibit are inspired by Curran's first trip to Israel this summer.
The 22-year-old, who is considering pursuing architecture studies, was powerfully impacted by his trip, which was a 10-day Birthright tour that he extended for a month.
Curran, who has had about 20 solo and group exhibitions, said his technique looks similar to silk-screening, but he uses photographic images blown up to the size of the canvas, which he traces using conventional carbon paper, then fills in with acrylic paint, usually black, sometimes with accents of red or gold.
A student of art history and psychology, Curran said his art combines his disciplines by using Rorschach test-like shapes and stretching the bounds of abstraction while still having an identifiable shape. There is an irony in Curran's use of black and white to depict a world and a time when almost nothing is black and white.
"I hope people find something to relate to, something that invokes emotion," Curran said of his exhibition. "Whether it be an Israeli who sees something which invokes childhood memories or your average Canadian being surprised by the complexity of architecture in Tel Aviv ... as long as an impression is made I am happy."
Curran said he came to realize the power of visual imagery through his work with the Israel Awareness Club (IAC), part of Hillel at the University of British Columbia.
"Through the activism that the IAC is involved with, it became blatantly clear that visual images have a profound impact on people, especially when it comes to the issue of the Israel-Palestine media war," he said. "Once an image is shown to the world it, true or false, cannot be retracted in the same way an article can."
Returning to Canada, Curran turned more than a dozen of his photographs into starkly contrasting works of art.
"Judaism has a rich history of both ceremonial art and synagogue art," he said. "Right now, I'd say a vast majority of my work is Jewish-infused."
B'Eretz Hakodesh runs from Nov. 7-13 at the Yaletown Brewing Co., 1111 Mainland St., in Vancouver. An artist's reception takes place at the pub on Nov. 13, 8 p.m. to midnight.
Pat Johnson is, among other things, managing director, programs and communications, for the Vancouver Hillel Foundation.
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