Friday, Dec 8, 2017 • 12:30–1pm
ADMISSION: Free with Museum admission
“On his way to blow the shofar in the Holy Land, Rabbi Wolf Kitzes finds himself in a mansion and discovers a long table. He is given the choice between blowing the shofar or eating a meal from the horn of plenty. Choosing the latter, he comes back home and realizes that he missed the opportunity to end the suffering of his people.” Drawing inspiration from the tale, Arcega creates an abstract representation of Rabbi Wolf Kitzes’ choice.
Michael Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. His research-based work revolves largely around language and sociopolitical dynamics. Directly informed by historic narratives, material significance, and geography, his subject matter deals with circumstances where power relations are unbalanced.
Want to read the stories that inspired these works of art? Howard Schwartz, a three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, has gathered together one hundred of the most astonishing and luminous stories from Jewish folk tradition in Leaves From the Garden of Eden, the reference book for The CJM exhibition, Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid.
Gallery chats are short talks exploring the art and ideas in an exhibition. These twenty-minute talks take place in the galleries during lunchtime and are free with Museum admission.
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Installation view of Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid (September 28, 2017–January 28, 2018), The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. Photo Credit: JKA Photography.