The Heller Museum, Jewish Art Salon, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and CANVAS invite you to two events:
Book Launch Party for the publication
BRIGHTON BEACH BIBLE
by Joel Silverstein, essay by Ori Z. Soltes
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Reception and booksigning at 5 – 7 p.m.
Program at 6 p.m.
Featuring:
Artists/authors Joel Silverstein and Julian Voloj in conversation; and remarks by Gordon Haber, Yona Verwer, Rabbi Jeni Friedman, Jean Bloch Rosensaft
Closing Party for the exhibition
JERUSALEM BIENNALE in NY
Brighton Beach Bible
Artist and Author Joel Silverstein has published an autobiographical painted narrative based on the Exodus story of the Hebrew Bible.
Offering 64 stunning full-page images, this startling work is both an artist’s catalog raisonné and comic book-style sequential art.
Silverstein depicts Brighton Beach and Coney Island, the famed recreational New York shoreline from the 1970s- 2010s, infusing the images with Pop cultural and art historical resonance, where seemingly time stands still.
The book is published by the Jewish Art Salon.
The Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
One West Fourth Street, New York, NY
Order online in December on Amazon.com or on https://thebrightonbeachbible.com/
Made Possible by a grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish culture.
The Jerusalem Biennale in NY consists of two exhibitions:
ACTIVATE: A New York Women’s Perspective
Artists: Joan Roth, Siona Benjamin, Yona Verwer, Ronit Levin Delgado, Goldie Gross, Chelsea Steinberg Gay. Curator: Hadas Glazer.
THE SEVENTEEN: IRON FLOCK
Artist: Archie Rand. Curator: Samantha Baskind.
Exhibition info
Program Participants
Brooklyn-born artist, curator, and author Joel Silverstein paints his life’s journey as a universal tale of redemption and transformation, informed by the Exodus story in the Hebrew Bible. The rides and attractions of Brighton Beach and Coney Island shape his internal world, where family, friends, and famous cultural figures all serve as actors in the story. Infused with pop cultural and historical imagery, the 64 vivid works in this book will appeal to all those who love the visual arts, movies, comics, and epic narratives, and who have felt transition, loss, dislocation, or liberation in their lives. Brighton Beach Bible is published by the Jewish Art Salon, a global network of visual artists, historians, and writers dedicated to exploring ideas in Jewish Art, culture, and philosophy, with support to the artist by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Julian Voloj is a New York-based writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and many other national and international publications. His graphic novels include Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker, Black and White: The Rise and Fall of Bobby Fisher, The Joe Shuster Story: The Artist Behind Superman, and his current book is called (Not) a New York Love Story.
Dutch-born Yona Verwer is a multidisciplinary visual artist and curator, living and working in New York City. Her creative practice explores heritage, immigration, ecology, and kabbalah. She is the co- founder of the Jewish Art Salon.
Rabbi Jeni Friedman is CEO and Executive Vice President of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, which promotes Jewish peoplehood by supporting and developing the next generation of scholars and leaders in Jewish communities around the world.
Gordon Haber edits the CANVAS Compendium, CANVAS’s newsletter on Jewish arts and culture, the business of art, and philanthropic strategy. His reporting and commentary on religion, culture, and the arts have appeared in The Forward, Jewish Chronicle, Healthline, the Hollywood Reporter, Salon, Tablet, Religion Dispatches, and Religion and Politics. His short fiction has appeared in a number of literary journals and as three best-selling Kindle Singles.
Jean Bloch Rosensaft is Director of the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, which showcases the creativity of contemporary artists exploring Jewish identity, values, and history in exhibitions circulated throughout North America.
