Memory And Inheritance: Paintings And Ceremonial Objects By Tobi Kahn

In his first solo show in New York City in ten years, Tobi Kahn contemplates ritual, tradition, and memory, both personal and collective. Kahn’s luminous paintings and his singular Judaica will be shown in the Museum’s historic synagogue home, inviting reflection and meditation.

The exhibition features 48 objects, including ceremonial art, which is central to his practice. Informed by American modernism, Kahn’s abstract, distinctively crafted works on Jewish ritual and tradition communicate spiritual meaning and the artist’s deep faith in a way that speaks to any audience. His Omer counter, SAPHYR IV, is a stunning sculptural presence that also represents the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. With a luminous seven-by-seven grid, the artist portrays the time from the exodus from Egypt to receiving the Ten Commandments. AHDYN is one of a series of paintings contemplating the boundaries between water and sky through a spectrum of blues. In the LKAH series, Kahn explores individual experiences of the Sabbath through a series of Sabbath candlesticks with unique forms, including flowers and the silhouette of a woman’s body.?

This exhibition invites visitors to ponder the relationship between themselves and a larger spiritual community regardless of one’s faith and traditions.?

The Museum at Eldridge Street will offer a series of related public programs and will provide an audio guide narrated by Tobi Kahn through Bloomberg Connects.

An exhibition catalog for Memory & Inheritance includes images from the exhibition, as well as meditations by writer Nessa Rapoport and an essay by Abigail Rapoport, Curator of Judaica at the Jewish Museum. The catalog will be available for purchase at the Museum’s gift shop.  

Tobi Kahn is a painter and sculptor whose art has been shown in over 70 solo museum exhibitions. Works by Kahn are in major museum collections globally, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Phillips Collection, and The Houston Museum of Fine Arts.