7 paintings with work created from the 1970’s to the present in the permanent collection were on view in a unit installation from February–July 2022
ELEMENTAL: A Decade of Painting by Tobi Kahn
PAC MoCA, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island November 19, 2022 - January 29, 2023
My paintings are based on photographs I’ve taken, distilling or refining images to get to an irreducible core, a form that is singular, yet capable of evoking myriad, even infinite others. The paintings in this body of work reflect my awareness that nature is very fragile and that we are responsible for its protection.
Catalogue accompanies the exhibition with an essay by Kathryn Barush.
The University of Houston, TX This 7-panel Sky & Water painting installation was commissioned by the Jane Blaffer Owen and the Blaffer Trust in 2002. Designed in close collaboration and conversation, the installation merged Blaffer Owen’s hopes for a better world for all humanity as well as Kahn’s understanding of art as a conduit for healing and understanding.
The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angles and the Jewish Museum in New York each acquired ZAHRYZ, a new ceremonial object, 1st and 2nd in an edition of 7. Both institutions have several pieces in their permanent collections. This tzedek box, ZAHRYZ, is meant to empower us to record and remember each time over the course of a year that we contribute to the world’s healing. I have been inspired by the emerging Jewish ritual of a tzedek box, to which we add notes that capture our thoughts each time we do a righteous deed. Once a year, on Pesach Sheini (yom ha-tzedek), we open the box and reflect the extent to which we have brought more light to our communities – and how we might do more.
IMKHA, a Sukkah Meditative Space at the Marlene Myerson JCC of Manhattan. Installed 2021.
The design of this sukkah juxtaposes elements of different scale, with the shape and shadow modifying each other to form an eloquent assembly. This Sukkah, IMKHA, is an installation consisting of 13 interrelated sculpted painted wooden panels, constituting a single work of art. When not being used as a Sukkah, the panels will be installed as a meditative space