Baruch Nachshon

A few notes on my style of painting Many have been confused by the stylistic tendency of my painting and struggled to define it. There have been those who have found in it a confusion of forms and characters, following style of the German artist Hieronymous Bosch. Others have discovered an Indian or Persian inflected color pallette or even abstraction of cursive lines after the fashion of ornamental Arabic script. Still others see psychedelic tendencies suggestive of the school of Salvador Dali. To all of these I answer: I paint, rather, under the influence of the Highest Providence. He brings before me the figures and leaves me only the task of committing them all to the canvas and completing the painting. Another related series of works was inspired by a Japanese professor with whom I had come into contact when he asked me to paint for him “the Angel Michael in meditation.” One dear friend, after competing a course of study in Chinese Medicine in China, brought me a long Chinese scroll. This inspired a compelling series of works that unfolded over significant length. Under similar circumstances my series of landscapes and my series inspired by the Book of Psalms found their genesis. I have always listened carefully to criticism, particularly that offered by individuals who have no understanding of the work or its context. This is the mode of true guidance for the artist, as a wise man once said: “love criticism for this will lift you to the desired heights.” My use of symbolism has developed over time. I slowly came to appreciate that I was making repeated use of symbolic elements as a poet plays with new turns of phrase. One can find in my work frequent groupings of seven or eighteen (numerologically representative of life (or chai) in Hebrew) and twenty-six (corresponding to an important Divine Name). Drops of dew are conspicuous, as are tongues of flame, the Holy Temple, the City of Jerusalem, winged candles, tefillin and tzitzit. Also angels' wings, ladders, musical instruments and - broadly speaking- connections between heaven and earth. Baruch Nachshon