Archie Rand’s The 613 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

The 613 is a major painting project by Archie Rand presented at The CJM in San Francisco in its museum debut and first appearance outside New York City.

In traditional Jewish texts 613 rules for ethical and religious behavior are asked of all Jews. Rand’s exhibition includes one painting for each one of the 613; they are acrylic on canvas paintings (20 x 16 in.) arranged in a huge grid comprising 1700 square feet.

There will be a digital kiosk in the middle of the gallery so that visitors can access each of the 613 paintings in close up, along with the admonition translated into English.

A film about Rand’s The 613, directed and animated by Tatiana McCabe, will also be on view in the gallery. At the special invitation of CJM Executive Director Lori Starr, a new painting by Rand, on what some consider to be number 614: never forget, is included in the exhibition, displayed separately in the gallery.

More info about Rand and the exhibit here

Press: Vibrant art series explores ‘The 613’ mitzvot boldly, bodaciously.

On view: July 20, 2017–Oct 22, 2017

CJM, 736 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.655.7800

The conceptual piece, which is derived from the text of the Torah, is 15 feet high and 93 feet wide, totalling 1,700 square foot.

Archie Rand (born 1949) is an artist from Brooklyn, New York. Rand received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinegraphics from Pratt Institute, having studied previously at the Art Students League of New York. His first exhibition was in 1966, at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. He is currently Presidential Professor of Art at Brooklyn College. Before joining Brooklyn College, Rand was the chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Columbia University. He served as the Acting Director of the Hoffberger School of Painting and as Assistant Director of the Mount Royal Graduate Programs, both at the Maryland Institute College of Art. From 1992–94 he was Co-Chair of the National Studio Arts Program of the College Art Association. He was made a Laureate of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, which awarded him the Achievement Medal for Contributions in the Visual Arts. He is a Fellow member at the Jewish Art Salon.

Rand’s work as a painter and muralist is displayed around the world, including in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His graphic works and books are in over 400 public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Brooklyn Museum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, the  Smithsonian Institution, and The New York Public Library, and are  owned by many universities, among which are Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, and Johns Hopkins.