Friday, July 20, 2012

#ArtIHeart 15 - Rabbi On A Bicycle

Art I Heart

Share the art you love from your walls, a birthday card, what your child drew at school, that you saw in The National Gallery in London...

1. Choose one piece of art that has a short personal story behind it. It could be something on your wall, something you've seen in a gallery and love, homedrawn, on a postcard, on a birthday card, something by Degas or something by your DS.

2. Take a photograph, scan or download a picture of your picture and post it along with the short story about why you are drawn to it, have it on your wall, bought it, or hate it. Don't forget to link back to the linky so your readers can see the other entries.

3. Link up (it's open till next Thursday, 4pm GMT), leave a comment, et voila!

Here's mine:

Speeding Patriarch by Alexander Klevan

I bought this signed, limited (400) lithograph in about 1997, a couple of years after it was painted. Alexander Klevan (b. 1950 in Siberia and emigrated to Israel) paints a variety of subjects including Rabbis rushing around on unlikely modes of transport (bikes, roller-skates and skis), women (in various stages of undress), still life (flowers, fruit and wine), romantic spiritualism (think Marc Chagall and Klevan actually has his own Fiddler On The Roof), Mediteranean coastal scenes and clocks (often hidden among other themes).

I bought it because I love the colours (and I thought it might  balance out the problem caused by this painting). The subject is a little comical which appealed to me even though I don't usually choose specifically Jewish themes in art. If I were choosing again I might pick one of the following which I also love (although the woman wouldn't help with this dilemma):

Here's my copy on the wall in my apartment:





And here is a much wider slection of Klevan's work:

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11 comments:

  1. Older MumJuly 20, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Nice to see another art I heart post again ... there's a alot of movememt and flow in the way he paints. I like it. I thought it was quite comical too - I like the two chickens perched at the back!

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    1. Rachel SelbyJuly 20, 2012 at 8:51 PM

      Re the chickens, either he's rushing to get them home and prepared in time for Shabbat or it's the day before Yom Kippur and he's rushing to do kaporot. That's a chicken swinging ritual in which the chicken takes on your sins. Only the very ultra-orthodox still do this ancient ritual but you can still see it in jerusalem.

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    2. Older MumJuly 20, 2012 at 11:31 PM

      That was very interesting to know!

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  2. Mummy PlumJuly 20, 2012 at 9:42 PM

    I love your painting. I'd have it on my wall. I love the colours and the way he's taking the trouble to hold an umbrella over his head too, not easy when riding a bike! He looks like a very busy man and I think the way the artist has captured his feet /legs in the cycling motion reflects this fabulously.

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    1. Rachel SelbyJuly 20, 2012 at 10:21 PM

      Thanks Mummy Plum, it does have so much in it doesn't it?

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  3. Lins' lleisioJuly 21, 2012 at 1:20 PM

    Thank you for introducing me to this, I love the colours too. So vibrant and clear.

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    1. Rachel SelbyJuly 21, 2012 at 8:44 PM

      Thanks Lins. For some reason the colours that come out with my camera never match up to what is on the wall. If I'm lucky I can find a copy somewhere in the internet, which is what I did this time.

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  4. mouseJuly 21, 2012 at 10:02 PM

    Great colours. I LOVE the one of the woman by the table-she looks so quizzical and it's really vibrant and full of character.

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    1. Rachel SelbyJuly 21, 2012 at 10:12 PM

      I love the colours also except that, thinking abolut it now, she doesn't look anything like me so I probably wouldn't have bought that one. Does she look like you? I have a theory...

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  5. ShesJuly 22, 2012 at 12:37 PM

    Interesting - I really like these art themes of yours each week.

    xx

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