Word: bak
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...PRESENCE OF FIGURES By Samuel Bak At the Pucker Gallery 171 Newbury St. Through December...
...Samuel Bak lavishly paints the memory of the Holocaust through a cascade of painful hues and poignant images in In the Presence of Figures. His vision of history unveils the Jewish experience through the eloquent layering of a complex iconography subtly placed within his landscapes and portraits. Bak is not only the creator of breathtaking work, but also a survivor of the Holocaust. The themes and variations of his artwork reflect the inhumane environment which he endured. Born in the Polish city of Vilna (present day Lithuania) in 1933, Bak felt the presence of danger throughout his childhood. His drawings...
...most recognized photograph from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, a little boy stands in the rubble, both hands raised in a blind surrender. His back shelters him from the view of a man with a gun, his shoulders suspecting his doomed fate. Bak was about the same age as this child pictured, and chose to honor in his paintings this image of all children sacrificed in the Holocaust. The little boy, the symbol of the universal purity of the heart, is the main subject of over 12 pieces in the exhibit, each time pictured in the same pose. The desensitization...
There is a midrash (a legend) that explains, "the further you are from Sinai [the moment of revelation], the more you are diminished." Bak varies the notion of family lineage in From Generation to Generation through a series. An elder from the village of Vilna, gazes upon versions of himself, his body decreasing in size, each time preserving his old age. The ancestors bless their descendents but stare toward the earth, without joy or life. It is as if these men have always been old, but one cannot tell which man is the oldest. Each generation, now with the knowledge...
...salad bar and I heard this huge crashing noise. I looked to my right and saw a big gaping hole with the curtains flying," said Hyung J. Bak '93. "There was an immediate drop in temperature...