Lahav's work involves understanding the world through multiplicity. Their projects include large groups of paintings that investigate a single theme, from Jewish identity to their personal experience as a foster parent.
Lahav has created multiple series that function as packaged educational traveling exhibitions. These works have traveled throughout the United States, displayed in museums and nonprofit art spaces, both large and small.
48 JEWS
Over 60 paintings exploring both what it means to be Jewish and what it means to be a portrait. Subjects range from Anne Frank to Elvis Presley (who had 4 generations of maternal Jewish decent)
GREAT AMERICANS
Over 36 seven foot tall portraits exploring American identity through notable historical figures. Subjects range from Martin Luther King Jr (pictured above) to George Washington, along with lesser known figures such as Afong Moy (the first Chinese woman to immigrate to America in 1834).
RECORD PAINTING
Over 200 works exploring the connection between music and art through translating notable vinyl album covers into paint.
FOSTER PAINTING
46 Paintings (24” x 32”) documenting Lahav’s experience as a licensed foster parent.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT / PERFORMANCE
During exhibitions Lahav replaced a painting with a version created from paper mache and filled with candy. They invite children to come smash it open, breaking the cardinal rule of the white box gallery and inviting joy into the contemporary art world.
PLANTS : INSTALL / PAINTING / VESSELS
From large scale vine installations to small paper mache vessels, Lahav uses plants as a metaphor for understanding their role as a parent.
DREAMS OF MULTIPLICITY
In 2000, while studying Jungian psychology as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University, Lahav had a vivid dream. In this dream, he was walking with a group of people through a desert when they came upon a giant cliff-faced mountain. Lahav knew that God lay at the top of the mountain. But how could they climb the steep vertical cliff? One by one, the people began to climb atop one another, forming a giant pyramid which Lahav ascended before jumping over to the top of the cliff's edge. He looked around, and there was no God waiting there. However, when Lahav looked back, he saw a giant tower of shimmering people. Each person formed a word in the giant tapestry, and Lahav immediately understood that this was the true idea of God.
This dream informes Jac Lahav’s larger practice. Understanding how as a collective, we can reach a deeper understanding of the world. Through multiplicity, we can create something truly special.