Show ran from 5/2/2001 to 5/26/2001

Paintings from the Baal Shem Tov,  painting

Block uses the legends of this eighteenth-century Jewish mystic as inspiration. This series of paintings captures the joyousness of the Baal Shem Tov's mysticism as well as the legends that he engendered. Each painting is based on a particular story. First, Block develops a group of images relevant to the legend through working on dozens of preliminary sketches. He then weaves these images together into an abstract painting, thereby using his own vibrant contemporary visual language to represent the intention of the great sage's instruction.