Jac Lahav
48 Jews – Selections From The Series

Opening reception June 20th, 2009, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
June 20th – August 1st, 2009

In his series entitled “48 jews”, the young American artist, Jac Lahav, tackles the question of Jewish identity. Even the title itself challenges viewers to question their understanding of the term “Jew”. From the very first attempt at questioning, several layers are revealed. There are many different ways of identifying oneself as Jewish: culturally, genetically, legally or practically. Being Jewish does not simply come from having Jewish ancestors. There are plenty of examples in history of non-practising Jews, or those who converted to Christianity. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for Lahav’s interest in how Judaism influences the consciousness of the Jewish people. Something has certainly encouraged him to further the dialogue concerning Jewish identity and its importance for the individual.

Lahav is always trying to incorporate contradictions and anomalies in his work to frustrate any attempts at classification. The exhibition’s title itself is in contradiction to the actual number of images, which is much greater than 48. His reference to Gerhard Richter’s series aside, the number 48 has a huge significance in Jewish history: 1948 is the year Israel declared its independence, and there are 48 prophets in the Hebrew Bible.

However, he does not attempt to highlight the ‘Jewishness’ of his figures explicitly, nor celebrate the very fact that they are Jewish. For him it is much more a question of the dichotomy of his own situation; of engaging with his background and of questioning stylised identity as a painter, and Jewish identity in general. It is often at first a total surprise to come across this or that figure in the context of a series of “Jewish” portraits. All of these questions form the background for the artist’s often highly colourful images. Famous paintings from the last seven centuries serve as a point of departure and orientation for his own interpretations.

In this way, you can find a complex portrait of Bob Dylan, for example, inspired by a painting by Hans von Marees, “Self-portrait with Lenbach” from 1863. Lahav stays very close to his own model in this instance and even accentuates the interpretation, which portrays Lenbach in Marees’ painting as the personification of Death, with his double depiction of Dylan as death in Lenbach’s place in the painting.

All of his paintings give the impression of a collage, because Lahav moves in a realm on the border between abstract and figurative painting. Even the process of the paintings’ creation makes an important contribution to their overall effect; Lahav reveals the layers of his paintwork, for example, by continually scraping off the surface of the painting and exposing deeper layers. All of his paintings are square and of equal size, yet stylistically they could not be more different. Each painting arises out of a brand new process of engagement with the subject. In this way, Jac Lahav produces each portrait individually with its own particular content and even its own different stylistic results.