Hiroshima: Ground Zero 2009

Reflecting on the Museum on the Seam (& NY Times) references below, it occurred to me that the Hiroshima: Ground Zero image would fit seamlessly (pun intended) into the Entropy Drawings, so I created a new version:


Hiroshima: Ground Zero, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

This is not a copy per se. It's much larger than the previous versions, which were small. I created it without referring to the original(s). It's done in brush & ink, the original drawing was done in pen & ink (a somewhat rusty Speedball ink pen that I found lying around at the time). There are slight differences in the layout & details. However, the essence is pretty much the same, with the vaporized souls of Hiroshima depicted in the spaces between the hatching.

In general, I don't like to repeat myself literally -- of course, themes and images recur throughout my work. However, from time to time I like to return to an iconic piece, to see if something new can be drawn out of it.

How To Detonate A Nuclear Bomb

A more realized version of the "Arrested History" image (see posting somewhere below) derived from the drawing in the Eliot Katz/Ayton book...acrylic on board, 14" x 11", 2008. Also related to the "Ground Zero" painting currently to be seen in the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem.

"Hiroshima: Ground Zero" currently on exhibit at Museum on the Seam

Acrylic on board, 12" x 8", 2004.

This just in: I've been informed that my small painting, "Hiroshima: Ground Zero", which was previously a part of the "Bare Life" show at the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, Israel, is now on exhibit concurrently with (though not a part of) the new show "HeartQuake". Kudos to curator Raphie Etgar on putting together what I'm sure is another fascinating show.

HeartQuake deals with anxiety in contemporary life, and highlights artworks by Anselm Kiefer, Stanislaw Koba, Adam Adach, Stephan Kaluza, Asaf Ben Zvi, and many others. Here is a link to the exhibition page.

Bare Life catalog

Just got back in from Jerusalem (via Kiev) late last night, exhausted but happy. The show was a success & I got my 15 seconds of fame on Israeli TV, in a news segment on the Bare Life show. It was also good to see Raphie Etgar (curator) & Merav Maor (museum director) again. I met German sculptor Jürgen Waxweiler and Chinese artist Sun Furong, among many other people.

The show contained work by 42 artists from all over the world, including big names such as Anselm Kiefer, Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman, Paul McCarthy, William Kentridge, Sophie Calle & so on. It was good company to be in.

Below is the catalog cover:



Cover image is "Cain Mark" by Israeli artist Haim Maor (color print photograph & collage)

Below is my double-page spread (pp. 86-87):


Click on image for larger version.

Images are (left) "The Witnesses", 2003 (War Room study) & "Hiroshima: Ground Zero", 2004, painted after the 2001 illustration commissioned by the New York Times Op-Ed page.