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Los Angeles—Artful Dwellings: Sukkot at the Skirball—an exhibition of three large-scale installations by contemporary artists Sam Erenberg, Therman Statom and Marlene Zimmerman—is now on view at the Skirball Cultural Center through November 11, 2007. These specially commissioned works, all belonging to the Skirball’s permanent collection, represent the artists’ interpretations of a sukkah. Evoking the fragile shelters built by the Israelites in biblical times after their liberation from Egypt, a sukkah is the temporary structure traditionally used during the annual Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which celebrates the fall harvest.

Inspired by the artists’ personal experiences and reflecting their individual aesthetic sensibilities, the three sukkot in the exhibition are compelling works of art familiar in form but unique in interpretation. They provide an occasion for visitors from diverse communities and cultures to reflect upon the themes of shelter, hospitality and thanksgiving.

Sam Erenberg, tabernacle
Mahogany, alder bench and pedestal of birch and pine

MUSEUM PURCHASE WITH FUNDS PROVIDED BY AUDREY AND ARTHUR GREENBURG IN MEMORY OF THEIR SON, DANIEL GREENBERG

tabernacle, a work by painter, photographer and book artist Sam Erenberg, was commissioned by the Skirball in 1985 and demonstrates Erenberg’s contemporary vision of a sukkah. On the exterior walls of the sukkah, Erenberg painted a mural cycle that is meant to be read from right to left like the Hebrew language. The abstract landscape images on the walls deal with creation and fertility, invoking universal themes and recalling the origin of Sukkot as a harvest festival.. Each wall has a triangular cut-out representing a portion of a disassembled six-pointed star. Inside the sukkah is a peaceful area for quiet meditation.

This installation by Erenberg reflects his exploration of light and space, prominent concerns of many Southern California artists. His life’s work is characterized by aspects of Minimalism, an art movement focusing on pure color and shape. Erenberg’s wide-ranging interests—historical, philosophical, religious and literary—have also helped to shape his art.

Therman Statom, To Dwell in a Glass House
Glass, metal and fiberglass, with acrylic and oil

GIFT OF ALPERT & ALPERT IRON & METAL, INC.

For his sukkah, Therman Statom, one of America’s most significant experimental glass artists, used plate glass to which he attached shards, blown glass forms and found objects. Not being of the Jewish faith, Statom came to this project in 1997 without knowledge of what the holiday of Sukkot or its symbolic structure meant. In learning about the holiday, he found that families often design the decorations for their own sukkot using fruits and vegetables of the harvest season or plaques depicting symbolically invited biblical ancestors. Taking inspiration from this, Statom’s installation reflects the bounty of the autumn harvest.

Statom has said that glass, for him, is like a canvas. As demonstrated in his sukkah, he paints some portions of his “glass canvases.”  The paint often appears suspended in space, creating a gleaming inner realm for the viewer. Though his is a very non-traditional interpretation, the creation of a sukkah was a natural progression for Statom, since he had often used the basic forms of houses in his work.

Marlene Zimmerman, Joyful Visions: An American Sukkah
Acrylic on pine with 1997 cuttings of 100-year-old grape vines from Rancho Cucamonga

MUSEUM COMMISSION WITH FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE CARYLON FOUNDATION IN MEMORY OF CARYLON HEMMELSTEIN (1925–1996)

When requested by the Skirball in 1997 to create a sukkah with an Americana theme, Marlene Zimmerman began the project by putting out a call in newspapers across the country and on the Internet for individuals and institutions to send her photographs of their own sukkot. Responses were abundant and the photographs became sources of inspiration for the artist. The interior back wall is filled with more than 70 individual scenes of Sukkot celebrations sited in their relative locations across the United States. Among the numerous images are the sukkah of Or Hatzafon (Light of the North) in Fairbanks, Alaska, a congregation which calls itself the “Frozen Chosen” and a sukkah in St. Paul, Minnesota based on an ancient Mongolian structure, the yurt. Painted with lively color, which characterizes Zimmerman’s folk-art style, she has presented in this work the diversity of American life. 

Zimmerman’s art evokes the simple, direct, self-taught tradition of 19th-century folk art.  Yet she is very much a 20th-century artist who experiments with color and composition and uses photography as source material for her work. Her creative approach is to combine historical research and collected images and patterns with her own artistic style.

Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90049 (Exit Skirball Center Drive off the 405)
(310) 440-4500, fax (310) 440-4595
Contact: Stacy Lieberman (310) 440-4578, or Mia Carino (310) 440-4544
Email, communications@skirball.org
Web site, http://www.skirball.org
Please direct e-mail inquiries about the exhibition to the Center’s address (above); DO NOT use “Reply” button, it will send to ArtScene.
To view formatted version of this announcement online: 
http://artscenecal.com/Announcements/0907/Skirball0907.html