CHESTER SYNAGOGUE : FEB - APRIL 29, 2025
Designed by iconic artist Sol Lewitt the Chester Synagogue exhibits contemporary artists in their expansive gallery space. In Feb 2025 Lahav will exhibit select new abstract works along with new selections from their influential 48 Jews series.
Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek
55 E Kings Hwy, Chester, CT 06412
In this exhibition Lahav shares two related bodies of work. A selection of portraits from Lahav’s 48 Jews series (first exhibited in the Jewish Museum NY) explores Jewish identity through notable cultural icons. Here Lahav unveils 6 new portraits of famous Jewish artists, referencing the art historical legacy of the Chester synagogue having been designed by artist Sol Lewitt. This feeds into the palimpsest nature of Lahav’s work, layering history, culture, paint, and lore to create deep contextual meaning in both their paintings and exhibitions.
On the opposite wall a group of abstract works reflects the new 48 Jews portraits.
These non-objective abstract paintings focus on surface and color, further exploring Lahav's work recently exhibited at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum CT.
Through the painting process, Lahav counts the number of times they approach the canvas, referring to these as "touches." Each work in the series has 18 touches. Despite the intense buildup of paint, the surface remains flat, lending a luminous quality to the works. This painting style references the works of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman (both artists represented in portraits on the opposing wall), relying on "flat" painting where texture is minimized, emphasizing that every mark on the canvas carries significant weight.
Lahav also draws inspiration from traditional Middle Eastern craft techniques, such as Moroccan Tadelakt, where layers of colored plaster are built up to create a sense of luminosity.
Beyond the surface and color, Lahav’s works carry deeper conceptual meaning. In Jewish tradition, numbers hold spiritual significance, and the number 18 represents "chai," meaning "life," with profound connotations. After completing the paintings, Lahav gilds each work with a gold leaf line, referencing a broken line. This concept is inspired by the tradition of Kintsugi pottery, where broken vessels are repaired with golden lines.
In an art historical context, the broken gold line plays a formalist role, evoking Barnett Newman's "Zip" paintings. Yet it also holds deeply personal significance for Lahav. The artists work is an attempt to finding solace in the terror of todays zeitgeist of climate change catastrophes, increasing techno-anxiety, and contemporary politics. The golden broken lines in these contemplative abstracts serves as a meditation on healing and finding beauty in division.
Detail Shot, Mark Rothko with weird cats - (24” x 24”, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 2025)
