2015

NACHBARN OTHER PAINTINGS

NACHBARN/NEIGHBORS, a commissioned exhibition for the Kunsthalle St. Annen, Lübeck, Germany, 7 February-29 May, 2016  Click here for more information.

Click to see installation views of the exhibition.

I Thought We Were Friends, 2015, 40" x 40" (100cm x 100cm), oil/linen mounted on wood panel
Ken Aptekar, I Thought We Were Friends, 2015, 40″ x 40″ (100cm x 100cm), oil/linen mounted on wood panel
Ken Aptekar, COULD YOU PLEASE WATER THE PLANTS? 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 100cm
Ken Aptekar, COULD YOU PLEASE WATER THE PLANTS? 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 100cm
Ken Aptekar, I Looked Everywhere for Home Movies, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 200cm x 200cm, (four panels) TEXT: I looked everywhere for home movies from the 1930s, filmed in Lübeck. What was it like, I wonder, on the St. Annenstrasse back then? A boy studying for his Bar Mitzvah walks past the art museum on his way to class at the synagogue next door. How does he feel, before the time when neighbors looked away as Jews were picked up to be murdered? No luck, so I end up settling for a painting hanging in the museum, of the 12 year-old Jesus in a synagogue.
Ken Aptekar, I Looked Everywhere for Home Movies, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 200cm x 200cm, (four panels) TEXT: I looked everywhere for home movies from the 1930s, filmed in Lübeck. What was it like, I wonder, on the St. Annenstrasse back then? A boy studying for his Bar Mitzvah walks past the art museum on his way to class at the synagogue next door. How does he feel, before the time when neighbors looked away as Jews were picked up to be murdered? No luck, so I end up settling for a painting hanging in the museum, of the 12 year-old Jesus in a synagogue.
Ken Aptekar, I’m Jewish But I Don’t Really Buy the Whole God Thing., 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 200cm, (diptych)
Ken Aptekar, I’m Jewish But I Don’t Really Buy the Whole God Thing., 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 200cm, (diptych)
Ken Aptekar, On His Thirteenth Birthday, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 200cm, (diptych) TEXT: On his 13th birthday Adolf Doum reads the Torah for his Bar Mitzvah in Lübeck. Sacred Jewish texts must never be destroyed. If damaged, Torahs must be given a proper burial. So four months later on November 10, 1938, the day after Nazis attack the synagogue and throw the Torahs to the floor, Adolf and his friend Arno Werner Blumenthal slip inside the back door to rescue the Torahs before the Nazis return. After, Abe Frankenthal carries the scrolls to neighboring Moisling, to the Jewish cemetery.
Ken Aptekar, On His Thirteenth Birthday, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 200cm, (diptych) TEXT: On his 13th birthday Adolf Doum reads the Torah for his Bar Mitzvah in Lübeck. Sacred Jewish texts must never be destroyed. If damaged, Torahs must be given a proper burial. So four months later on November 10, 1938, the day after Nazis attack the synagogue and throw the Torahs to the floor, Adolf and his friend Arno Werner Blumenthal slip inside the back door to rescue the Torahs before the Nazis return. After, Abe Frankenthal carries the scrolls to neighboring Moisling, to the Jewish cemetery.
Ken Aptekar, Eier, Mehl, Kekse, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 100cm (English translation: eggs, flour, cookies, potatoes, soap, carrots, organic oranges, and a roll of paper towels for Mustafa next door)
Ken Aptekar, Eier, Mehl, Kekse, 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 100cm (English translation: eggs, flour, cookies, potatoes, soap, carrots, organic oranges, and a roll of paper towels for Mustafa next door)
Ken Aptekar, WHAT, EVERYONE SHOULD BE THE SAME? 100cm x 500cm (five panels), 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 500cm
Ken Aptekar, WHAT, EVERYONE SHOULD BE THE SAME? 100cm x 500cm (five panels), 2015, oil/linen mounted on wood, sandblasted glass, bolts, 100cm x 500cm