Grisha Bruskin, Alefbet

I’ve been a fan of Grisha Bruskin for a number of years, but this was my first chance to see any of his work in person. He’s in his mid-60’s and lives between New York and Moscow. His style combines Jewish and Soviet Realist traditions, but with enough assimilative power that what he produces is something rather different from either.

There doesn’t seem to be an available image of Alefbet, but the image a few posts below this one is the style in which he is still working, and will give a sufficient idea of the nature of the present work.

Alefbet is 11 meters in width. It consists of 5 neighboring tapestries presented as a single work. Each tapestry consists of 4 panels with roughly 8 figures in each. The theme is Jewish history, though you might not be able to guess that for a few minutes unless someone told you.

There are various Old Testament prophets, angels, monsters, and sometimes body parts stripped from all context. His backgrounds generally consist of faux Medieval script, though the script may actually mean something for all I know. The color is often overpowering, with very bright reds and blues prominent in his palette.

It being the Jewish Museum, there was embassy-like security at the entryway, but apparently almost none on the interior. I was left alone with the tapestries for maybe 20 minutes before any other visitors arrived, and at no point did any museum security personnel enter to check on me.

I’ve tried to order some books of Bruskin’s work in the past, but was always told that they were unavailable. This time I walked away with all three that were stocked in the gift shop.

“Breathtaking” may have become a meaningless word over time, but there are some works that are sufficiently powerful as to interfere with your breathing rhythm, and for me this was one of them.