Saturday, April 12, 2008

THE SEPHIROTIC TREE is on display at the Smart Museum in Chicago:
Another attention-grabbing piece is the 19th century “Holy Tree.” This piece is a long strip of parchment with Hebrew text inked onto it. The piece is a sefirot, or a graphic representation of God’s attributes. This piece, like the works from Ancient Mesopotamia, may generally be thought significant more for its religious or historical significance than as a piece of art. But approaching the piece from an aesthetic perspective brings out the fluidity of ink markings and the way the shape of the text guides the viewer’s eyes through the piece without a dizzying effect.