{"id":39159,"date":"2022-07-22T01:58:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T08:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=39159"},"modified":"2022-07-23T14:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T21:00:40","slug":"immersive-art-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2022\/07\/22\/immersive-art-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive art experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marty Katzoff\u2019s The Light Within the Shell was created specifically for the Zack Gallery. (photo by Lauren Zbarsky)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Light Within the Shell exhibit opened at the Zack Gallery on July 4. There is a sign beside the door: \u201cThis space is meant to be explored. Wander, sit, experience, enjoy.\u201d The show was created specifically for the gallery.<\/p>\n

Created by artist Marty Katzoff, it doesn\u2019t involve traditional paintings hanging on the walls. Instead, it looks like a huge folding screen comprised of a dozen panels. They encircle the room, leaving only a narrow passageway along the walls. Each panel has a colourful abstract painting on its inside surface and a black and white image on its outside. A few small copper sculptures scattered outside the enclosed space complete the installation. Viewers are invited to sit down and meditate on the benches inside the vibrant shell of the exhibit or wander along the outer passageway.<\/p>\n

Born in Rhode Island, Katzoff grew up playing sports. \u201cI didn\u2019t do much art until my teenage years,\u201d he told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI was going through difficult times in high school. My friend was an artist. She introduced me to the arts. I started making collages and found it therapeutic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He never completed high school and worked a variety of jobs. \u201cFor the next 10 years, I worked in construction, in restaurants,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd, all that time, I made art. I taught myself to paint. Then I went back to school and completed my BA at Bard College in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, Katzoff worked as an artist in New York, created large murals in indoor and outdoor spaces. He graduated from the University of British Columbia\u2019s master of fine arts program in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Artist Marty Katzoff at work. (photo by Lauren Zbarsky)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His artistic education vaguely coincided with his newly found fascination with kabbalah, specifically the Tanya, which he has been studying for the past few years. \u201cBefore, I had separate ideas about art and spirituality. Now, I\u2019m exploring how Jewish learning is connected to my art, how mythology and tradition transform my spiritual life into my paintings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a child, Katzoff went to a Jewish day school, but kabbalah offered him a different perspective. \u201cI started with a book by Gershom Sholem. Before, I always painted with music in the background. This project is the first I\u2019ve ever done without listening to music. I listened to kabbalah lectures online while I painted. I wanted to discover what I could create while listening to something complex and different \u2026 [by the late] Rabbi Yehoshua B. Gordon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the current installation came to him when he was finishing his graduate program at UBC. \u201cOne of our family friends lives in Vancouver,\u201d Katzoff explained. \u201cShe is Jewish and she told me about the Zack Gallery. I submitted the proposal, and it was accepted. I wanted to create an installation specifically for the gallery, an interactive space, a visualization of light. This show took me 11 months to complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katzoff sees this exhibit as an amalgam of dreams, painting, architecture, Jewish learning and personal symbolism.\u00a0Vancouver artist Rosamunde Bordos\u2019s\u00a0essay about the show, which is available in the gallery, expresses\u00a0her\u00a0visual composition in words.<\/p>\n

Katzoff\u2019s\u00a0media, the plywood panels, are all recycled materials. \u201cI have a friend who works in art shipping,\u201d he said. \u201cThey ship large pieces in plywood crates. That was where the panels came from. Some of them have holes, so customs could look inside the crates to see the art. I painted around the holes. It was like a collaboration with someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The size of the panels, some of them taller than a person, left him undaunted. \u201cI always liked to work on a large scale,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I did murals in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

His oil paints are also recycled. \u201cI use lots of recycled materials in my art,\u201d he said. \u201cMy grandmother was an artist. She gave me her entire collection of pigments for the oil paints I use. I\u2019ll probably work with her paints for the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to painting, Katzoff also works as a printmaker. Currently, he teaches printmaking at UBC as a sessional instructor. \u201cFor me, printmaking provides the connection with literature, with storytelling and history,\u201d he said. \u201cMy brain seems to process that connection better while I\u2019m drawing and etching. My drawings are illustrations, while my painting remains more like a therapeutic activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

His abstract copper sculptures, several of which are included in the exhibit, grew organically out of his printmaking. \u201cI make my sculptures reusing the copperplates from my prints,\u201d he said. \u201cI have lots of copper plates. Copper was an important part of Judaism and, after I use the plates for prints, I want to share the metal, recycle it. I make sculptures from it. I also make bracelets and amulets. You can see the remains of the etching if you look closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more, check out martinkatzoff.com<\/a>. The Light Within the Shell is on display until Aug. 22.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marty Katzoff\u2019s The Light Within the Shell was created specifically for the Zack Gallery. (photo by Lauren Zbarsky) The Light Within the Shell exhibit opened at the Zack Gallery on July 4. There is a sign beside the door: \u201cThis space is meant to be explored. Wander, sit, experience, enjoy.\u201d The show was created specifically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[2466,3076,218,1074,21647,6691,40],"class_list":["post-39159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-art","tag-education","tag-judaism","tag-kabbalah","tag-martin-katzoff","tag-painting","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}