Art & Inspiration Blog

The basic theology that Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory is founded upon is absolutely held by all branches and denominations of Christians and Jews. Since Christianity is born from Judaism and Jesus and all of his disciples were Jewish, the two religions agree and share certain core theology.

Recently I was asked on Twitter by a Catholic friend, Christine Ryan, if I had any Christian art. My reply was that all of my UnGraven Image Art is Christian since it is based on Christian theology!

My art may also be classified as Jewish as it is also based on Jewish theology.

That theology is that the Creator speaks the physical universe into existence, beginning in Genesis 1:7 with, “Let there be light.”

The theology also holds that the letters of the words spoken by the Creator are the essences, the very basic stuff of the physical universe. Thus, theologically the letters of those words can be understood as the smallest waves and pre-particles of science.

I use biblical letters as strokes to symbolically represent the basic essences that elementary physics calls “strings” makes my work both religious and scientific, or secular art.

The amazing discovery about the special font, known as torah font, the Bible’s original font and the one that Jesus and his disciples were familiar with, is actually the only font in the world that is alpha-numeric, phonic and binary came later. These qualities not only add to the perfect seeming symbolism and fit between what science tells us of the strings and theologians know about the letters. When one studies both, it seems as if the two groups are simply using different terminology to describe similar phenomena.

Plus, Torah font has twenty-two basic letters and thus also incredibly references the eleven strings in our universe while the opposites exist in alternate universe(s).

Applying my artistic understanding and the correlations between the strings and contemporary science gives new meaning to teachings in both the Hebrew and Christian testaments.

For instance when Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand”, it can be considered that He quite literally meant what He said. The Kingdom of God —the Words of the Lord – are actually right at hand in the here and now, wherever we each are at any moment. As the essentially essences – the building blocks of our physical universe—they must be for matter and energy to exist!

Dock Less Traveled

Until Post Conceptual Art theory, all of art was classified based upon its narrative, which means imagery. For instance a painting of the Last Supper is considered Christian while a painting of a Passover Seder is considered Jewish. Works of art that depict the people, places or things held sacred to a religion are considered religious, especially if it seems that was the artist’s intent, while works that do not are considered secular. For example a portrait of a mother and child is secular but one of Mary and the infant Jesus is religious or Miriam on the infant Moses is religious.

The Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art [Click HERE for free download of it] is the first art theory to focus on the stroke, which is the one element that must exist in any work of art in any discipline. In Post Conceptual Art the stroke is a symbol. In the branch known as UnGraven Image art the symbol is a Torah font letter from original Bible texts.

My friend tweeted asking if I would paint a crucifixion with the words of the Pentateuch as strokes? I responded that there really is a prohibition in the Ten Commandants against painting an image of God, which was adhered to in the Early Church. Historically that was changed by a pope in order to help teach the Christian stories to a very illiterate populace in the Middle Ages.

My job as an artist is not to paint the past but the present, the now with The Divine at hand. Christians understand this as the risen and living “Word”. Jews refer to this as HaShem, the “Name”. Notice how close in meaning the nouns the Word and the Name are? A name is a word and a word is a name for someone or something. Notice also how both refer to a combination of letters that are capable of being spoken or written?

My art can be classified as secular It can be classified as science-based. It can be classified as religious and understood to convey important concepts of duality shared by most of the world’s religions, including Christianity and Judaism, due to the binary symbol strokes. And my art can be classified as being also and always fully Jewish or fully Christian due to the symbol strokes that are the letters of Bible texts that depict the basic theology that begins with, “Let there be light.”

Thanks to Christine Ryan for asking the question that inspired this blog! You can follow her on Twitter at @DuffyLifeCoach.

This is my first Essence Portrait of myself.

This self portrait was created as I needed it for a video on the Essence Portrait series. As I worked on the upcoming video slides and script it became apparent that a portrait of me was glaringly missing and that just using my photo or film of myself was weird within the context of the presentation.

Yet what finally motivated me to concentrate on myself, when my natural gaze is outward, way from myself, was the accidental fall I experienced a few weeks ago, which resulted in stitches on my forehead, a large bandage wrapping my head and now a scar. My face with black and blue eyes, puffy, and bandaged intrigued me as a painter. I lack vanity being a natural born clown,  so I found the look most interesting and inspirational to paint. The bandage reminded me of van Gogh’s self portrait after he lost part of his ear, only his bandage was vertical and mine horizontal.

However it seemed bizarre that my first self portrait would be of myself as the walking wounded.

The strokes are all from the words of Psalm 19, my favorite. The initial Essence Portrait was of Andy Warhol and that one is also created using Psalm 19 for the strokes. It seems appropriate for Warhol also. To date these are the only two of my Essence Portraits that use this psalm.

This is actually a double self portrait as like my other works I signed it with my self portrait signature logo. The video about my signature logo portrait is embedded below this new basic Essence Portrait below.

Psalm 19 (Judy Rey Wasserman) Essence Portrait

The first Essence Portrait of George Washington, is created using strokes that are the original letters of the Bible’s Exodus chapter 20, better known as the Ten Commandments.

So while it appears to be a portrait of Washington this image is simultaneously a text.

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. ”– George Washington

Following the tenets of the theory of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory the letters are used as traditional artists’ strokes, so the overlap, interweave and are not necessarily presented in any order, this the meaning is intrinsic but impossible to read. [Further information on Judy Rey Wasserman's new art theory is found in the free PDF download of the Manifesto of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory, Click: “A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Strokes” and at http://ungravenimage.com ]

Creating a portrait of George Washington with a radical new art theory, perhaps the most radical ever, seems especially fitting as he was one of the most radical and revolutionary people who ever lived. He changed the world despite the indisputable fact that the odds were against him as he stood up to the then greatest most powerful country in the world: England.

“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” — George Washington

The Ten Commandments serves as the basis for most of the law of the governments of the world and certainly that of the United States of America . As such, it is fitting for the strokes of an Essence Portrait of any of the presidents of the USA. As chief executive the president administers the laws.

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” — George Washington

I am a great fan of George Washington and find him inspirational. If you follow me on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/judyrey ) you will see that most mornings my first greeting contains a sort weather report, such as, “Sun & warm here”. The idea for that actually derives from Washington ’s own diaries, where the one update he was sure to log was the daily weather. Beginning with that grounding reference makes sense to me, too.

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. ”– George Washington

Of course as an artist I greatly revere Washington and the founding fathers as the United States o America is the first country that offered full freedom of expression, commonly known as freedom of speech, to all artists.

“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.” – George Washington

Washington ’s image on the one dollar bill makes him the USA ’s most recognized president. Like the etched lines of the engraver’s marks, my strokes of alpha-numeric Torah font symbols appear in lines to convey features of Washington ’s face, mapping him with the text.

“I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent. ”

Without Washington’s contributions as a general and then as the man who refused to be crowned as king, the USA and the world would probably not enjoy the freedom we have.

“Happy, thrice happy shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed any thing, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabrick of Freedom and Empire on the broad basis of Independency; who have assisted in protecting the rights of humane nature and establishing an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.”

George Washington’s Ten Commandments Essence Portrait

by Judy Rey Wasserman

For related articles see:

Celebrating the Anniversary of Washington’s First Thanksgiving decree http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/11/celebrating-the-anniversary-of-washingtons-first-thanksgiving-decree/

Barack Obama Ten Commandments Essence Portrait http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/11/barack-obama-10-commandements-essence-portrait/

I am withdrawing my self as @judyrey for the nomination for the Shorty Award for art in 2010.

After a week of consideration and prayer it is too doubtful that given my current PC problems that I will be able to pull of the publicity stunt I intend to do if and when I win the awards. This stunt will promote Twitter’s art community, Twitter and the Shorty Awards. Pulling off this stunt means more to me than actually winning the award.

This blog and announcement was written because today is Follow Friday on Twitter. In the previous blog I announced that i would give Follow Friday mentions to everyone who had nominated me. Last week, I obnly gave a few as I was realizing that I maight need to withdraw. This week before I hold up my end with Follow Friday mentions for the remaining Twitter members who nominated me, I needed to announce my withdrawal to discourage futher nominations due to my Tweets.

What was to be this post was almost entirely written and I was planning to post it within a few days of the last one. I was all set to run and promote myself. Then the hardware problems began. [Note to self: upgrading can be a painful experience!]

Last year when I actively for a Shorty Award my goal was to make #art a recognized and featured category. There were categories for music and design but no art.

I achieved that goal gaining enough nominations for myself and others (I gave a full e book of the Art of Seeing The Divine, What Do You See? to any Twitter member who nominated anyone for #art). This year #art is a full fledged Shorty Award category.

One of my goals is to make fine art as relevant as music is for many more people. Social Media, especially Twitter can provide a way for artists and the people who support fine art to reach people that are not reached by the traditional media that covers art.

For me, a big part of wanting to win the nomination and the award is based on a very legal and fun stunt that I want to pull off if and when I win that award to celebrate and promote the community of artists, art museums, art writers, bloggers and critics, curators, educator, galleries and art media on Twitter. My innocent stunt is geared to gain ongoing publicity for Twitter’s art community members individually, plus Twitter and the Shorty Awards.

There are compelling reasons that have me nominated for the Shorty Awards, even beyond having promoted #art so that it is now a category. As an artist I staged the first ever Performance Art event on Twitter, plus have created and encouraged the community in others. I have and continue too update one of the most complete art lists as a service to the Twitter community http://twitter.com/judyrey/art Finally, according to wefollow.com plus what I can find, artist (my Art of Seeing the Divine books are based on the effects my art has on our brains and emotional well being).on Twitter who is not recognized for other careers, such as music. But the most compelling reason to nominate me for anything regarding art is that I am the only artist on Twitter (plus most anywhere else) who is actually founding a new theory of art (free download of “The Manifesto of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory—a Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Strokes: http://ungravenimage.com/images/ManifestoofPosConceptualUnGravenImageArt.pdf .

Yet, during the past weeks as it became obvious that this year there could be a glitch in pulling off my publicity stunt to celebrate Twitter’s art community within the time constraints between winning the nomination, then the award and the Shorty Award ceremony. Winning in 2010 became less attractive. For me the Shorty Awards offer an opportunity to help promote art – not just my art.

If you are on Twitter and follow me you may have noticed that I have not been tweeting as much recently. Wednesday of this week, I only Tweeted once —a first for me in the year and a quarter that I have been active on Twitter! I managed to get online via a laptop I only use to write and tweeted that I was experiencing PC problems and would be back soon.

Generally I tweet from a computer in my studio that I use for graphic and videos also. It is near my easel so when I am painting, taking a break, stepping back to look at my visual work and tweeting is a activity that occurs many times each day.

As I write this it is not clear what all of the course of action to fix and further upgrade parts of this studio computer will be over the next couple of weeks. What is apparent is that a chunk of my time will be spent dealing with the problem and that there will be times the PC will be “down”. This will seriously impact my ability to achieve the publicity stunt I have planned for the Shorty Awards based on time. Plus, I need more computer power than I have with my laptop to pull of what I need for my stunt. Even a magic wand with unlimited cash to hire the best people and buy whatever would not convince me that I have the time to pull this all off in 2010, along with my commitments.

Shortly after posting Part 1 on the Shorty Awards [See: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2010/01/2010-shorty-award-adds-art-category/] I almost completely quit personally campaigning when I began to experience problems. This was due to the computer problems that I was and am fixing. I will keep my pledge from the previous post to re-tweet and give Follow Friday mentions to all the people who nominated me before this post and after that one.

I want to thank everyone who nominated me this year. I really appreciate it.

Will I throw my hat in the ring for the Shorty Awards in 2012 or for other social media awards involving art? Most likely, as I continue to support art on social media and look forward to pulling off my stunt. I intend to be in a far better position to pull off my stunt and gain publicity for us by next year.

Due to my doubts re the equipment and the time and effort to upgrade I also had not contacted my Facebook group, fans, personal mailing lists or campaigned the way I planned  until recently. It usually works out in my life that when one door closes a double door opens somewhere. I suspect next year, 2011 I will probably be able to do a much better job for the art community , Twitter, the Shorty Awards and myself than I initially imagined this year. Ironically I can already see how one of the upgrades in the works will allow for that.

Last year via Twitter I, @judyrey, ran a campaign on the Shorty Award to make #art a main category.

According to the Shorty Award rules,  we can create categories and if any new one becomes popular it will be accepted as a basic category.

There were 24 major award categories, which include music, entertainment, finance, sports, tech, travel, social media, photography and design (which includes, graphics, web design, fashion and crafts) —but no art. No art?!

According to the Shorty Award rules anyone an be nominated for any category, even ones that are not “official” so I began a campaign to get appropriate Twitter members, myself included, nominated for #art.

First, I tweeting my discomfort that music had a category but art did not. After giving it a few days, watching nominations stream by I blogged: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2008/12/vote-for-art-twitters-shorty-awards/

Aside from blogging and Tweeting, I also promised and gave out free e books about how Post Conceptual UnGraven Image art actually changes how we see, which in turn creates fewer unwanted, negative memories and emotions throughout the day. The ebooks are sold via the Art of Seeing The Divine (www.artofseeingthedivine.com ) web site. I gave e books away to any Twitter member who nominated anyone for #art. Anyone, not just me.

Last year, when I ran that campaign, I had just made it over the Twitter hump and had over 2,000 followers. Although I had joined Twitter in the spring of ‘08 based on a link I received, I only began to Tweet at the end of October ‘08. So, when I decided to launch my campaign, I was a David of #art facing a Goliath of social media mavens.

There were enough nominations to make it a category this year #art is now a major category.

I received the most nominations in the #art category, but the awards only honored the people who received the most votes period, but the comics, newscasters, celebrities and social media gurus won.

This year I am proud to say I am being nominated in the category of #art. I think you should nominate and vote for me to win a Shorty Award for #art, simply because I campaigned hard last year (much harder than this year for myself!) to get #art as a category. And won!

You can see #art listed as a category at the Shorty Awards site:

http://bit.ly/ shorty

Unfortunately, this year, since writers, dancers, actors, cartoonists do not have categories they have moved into #art. Personally, I wish they would take the initiative to create categories that really represents them specifically. They deserve their own categories for their special talents..

However, there are even more compelling reasons to vote nominate & vote for me, which will be in Part 2 of this blog!

Everyone who was a Twitter member before this year’s Shorty Awards began can nominate up to five people in every category! It is easy to do.

Simply Tweet something like, “I nominate @judyrey for a ShortyAward in #art because she’s starting a new art theory”. The Tweet needs to mention the member name (@judyrey) the category (#art), ShortyAward (so they see it!) and give a reason as to why you are making the nomination. You can also RT someone making a nomination and that counts.

Everyone who nominates me will get a Follow Friday mention from me over the next several weeks. I have also been tweeting my thanks and/or ReTweeting the nominations from those who have nominated me so far.

Why do I win a Shorty for art?

One of my goals as the founder of a new, real art theory that is Post Conceptual Art is to help make Contemporary Art more popular, the way that music is.  Although the Shorty Award acceptance speach only allows each winner 140 characters, I have an idea, even scheme of how to bring attention to the International Art community on Twitter while saying less than that. Plus, it will be a Photo Op that hopefully will b a good PR moment for Twitter and the Shorty Awards also.

Part 2 of this blog will include my plans if I earn the nomination as one of the top five for #art, including how I plan to honor and get publicity for all of the fine artists, art museums, galleries, art media, curators and writers if I win! Plus, I am planning on doing something else for those who vote for me if I win the nomination and then the award!

Please Tweet to nominate me for a Shorty Award in #art because…{give a reason] now!

The question is being played out in the media and soon in court in a new form, “What is an authentic Andy Warhol work?”

According to Arthur Danto, Andy Warhol’s work questioned what is art: “What is the difference between two things, exactly alike, one of which is art and one of which is not?”

While one of Warhol’s Brillo Boxes is worth a fortune, a similar regular box that contains Brillo shipped to stores becomes trash that is hopefully recycled.

But now the question has moved one step further to include Warhol’s own work, often produced under his direction by others in his Factory. What makes an authentic Warhol different from one he merely consented to issue? More importantly, is there really a difference?

Warhol would have loved the controversy, since he said, “Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” The dispute is getting a lot of inches!

Tate Modern’s Nicholas Serota, wealthy art dealer Anthony d’Offay, Sussex businessman and underwater explorer David Mearns, and American film producer Joe Simon have all had their works of the Andy Warhol portrait denied by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc, a part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, headed up by Joel Wachs.

Although at present magazine publisher Richard Ekstract is not reported as a part of the class action lawsuit headed up by Joe Simon against the authentication board, his red self portrait of Warhol is also denied.

No one disputes that Andy Warhol himself had the photo taken in an inexpensive photo booth, and then turned into an acetate transparency for silk-screening. The controversy swirls around the use of the acetate to create the second group of red portraits.

It seems that Andy Warhol had an associate bring the acetate to an outside firm which ran the red portraits. It is said that he later approved them, but apparently the authentication board lacks the solid proof it wants for that, although there is fairly solid proof as Warhol personally signed one copy to his longtime business partner, the Zurich-based art dealer Bruno Bischofberger (“To Bruno B Andy Warhol 1969″).

Andy Warhol also signed a copy of Rainer Crone’s 1970 catalogue raisonné of Warhol’s work. Warhol worked on this catalogue with Crone, plus an image of Bischofberger’s signed portrait appears both on the cover and inside of it.

As an artist, who like Warhol is the founder of a new art theory (Post Conceptual Art- using symbols for strokes, plus the branch called UnGraven Image), this conflict has major implications and lessons that I and all artists today need to learn.

To begin with, we need to carefully keep provenance and catalog our own works, or oversee this. While printing plates can be destroyed, digital images are fairly easy to reproduce and artists like myself who create original digital prints need to be especially careful to keep records.

Prominent artists need to set up the foundations and boards that will handle their works with checks and balances, to prevent abuses by those who hold power. There is a lot of money and art world power. Money and power can sorely tempt mere non-artist mortals who have not learned that standing in front of a canvas is standing in front of a canvas, whether in a mansion or a converted garage – what matters is light, heat or air-conditioning.

Collectors, museums and dealers have the right to question authorities. While an artwork that is the undisputed and well known work of an artist is the safest investment, does the opinion of one expert or body of experts really make a work worth more less when equally educated authorities hold a different opinion?

For a presentation video that is almost completed I created Double Un – Denied Andy Warhol digitally using the basic portrait in much the same way Andy Warhol used his acetates. It is a playful homage to Andy Warhol who is one of the artists whose work has directly inspired my work and Post Conceptual Art theory. [See: Andy Warhol is a Grandfather to Post Conceptual Art] This artwork will be available soon as an original digital print/painting (I will be painting on each one also) through a dealers soon.

Double Un – Denied Andy Warhol by Judy Rey Wasserman

If we ask the question, “What American artist and founder of a revolutionary art theory created an authentic red portrait of Andy Warhol?” Currently, the only correct answer to that question would be Judy Rey Wasserman, according to the actions of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc.Although it is possibly 15 minutes of fame I could happily bask in, there’s deeply something amiss in the answer not also including Andy Warhol, his name first , especially since my work is an homage to his.

So, another question to ask is. “When does an art authority cease to be recognized and taken seriously by collectors, museums, and dealers – who really decides?” If an authority claimed my work is fake, but I, as the artist claimed it as my work, which would be true?

The answer seems obvious. Let me toss in Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 work Fountain. Was Duchamp present when his Fountain was created? Yet, we attribute it to him
When collectors, museums and dealers accept Fountain as a great work of art, why would they give weight to the denied claim of the authentication board? At least museum curators and dealers should be able to distinguish whether the emperor is wearing any clothes, whatever he claims.
The reports, including an excellent one by Richard Dorment in the New York Review of Books , are saying that stamping a work “Denied” basically renders it unsaleable in our art market. As an artist, I personally feel this relates to Warhol’s groundbreaking work painting dollar bills and questioning value and the link between art and money. It is a question that I intended to also pursue with my own work – but with new slants.

I never anticipate the current brouhaha over Andy Warhol’s own work, which clearly by several accounts he at least appropriated as his own. But, since my art, and the theory I am founding owes so much to his work, and although I am still emerging, I have a responsibility based on what I am doing and the recognition that historically must follow. So I am about to take another revolutionary stand.

Humor me for a moment as I deeply need to thank the Warhol Foundation itself for its wonderful philanthropic work, including for the grants and help it continues to offer to artists and not for profit groups, art writers and, frankly the world because art can change lives. In no way would I take a stand other than for the Warhol Foundation itself, which basically I support.

Yet the questions exist that need to be addressed in relation to these Warhol portraits and art works in general.

Who decides if something is a work of great art?

This question is at the heart of the issue as the red portraits will be considered great art if they are by Andy Warhol and , well, perhaps not really art if they are not.

An expert is only an expert if people agree on his/her expertise and adhering to the expert’s opinions. It is not only the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board that is deciding that the red Warhol portraits are not actual Warhols – it is also anyone, including art collectors, advisers, curators, museums, and dealers who accept and act upon their decision.

What if collectors, dealers, museums, curators ignore the stamps of denied and findings of the board? Or any art expert? Who really decides if the Emperor is wearing any clothes for you?

Is there a fall domino effect that will befall other art professionals who accept the strange possibility that the authentication board is correct and that a self portrait that was signed by an artist and sent to a close friend, then included in a catalogue raisonné that was approved and also signed by the artist is not actually to be considered the work of the artist?

Is discrediting a work of art accomplished simply by stamping “denied” on the verso? Why does this have to be?

To mitigate, even turn the tables on the dreaded and seemingly powerful “Denied” stamp, I am “stamping” the word: DENIED on the back of ever single authentic red Andy Warhol stand alone portrait I create and sign. This includes the Double Un – Denied Andy Warhol along with a small edition of Holiday cards I am privately sending.

Although I am a Post Conceptual artist, I see the lettered stamp on the verso as a kind of Word Art that somehow adds conceptually to the image and work on the front side.

My current stamp is handmade from Styrofoam, which can be cut and pushed out , sort of like a piece of lino, only the Styrofoam is far more fragile making rigid lines and perfection impossible. The fragility of the Styrofoam refers to the fragility of truth and artist’s connection to a work, both physically as it passes to a collector and now Warhol’s connection to his red portraits.

Denied Stamp by Judy Rey Wasserman with artist’ signature, initials and dated

On November 11, 2009 in a secod kind of article dubbed ‘What Is an Andy Warhol?’: An Exchange in the New York Review of Books In an answer to Joel Wachs ‘s comments in letters to the Editor Richard Dorment answers Joel Wachs’ comments in the Letters to the Editor concerning the original article linked above. Richard Dorment writes,” Readers should not be fooled by Mr. Wachs’s bluster. His complaints are a diversionary tactic intended to shift attention away from the sublime idiocy of his board’s closing sentence in its letter: “It is the opinion of the authentication board that said work is NOT the work of Andy Warhol, but that said work was signed, dedicated, and dated by him.”

Not the work of Andy Warhol but signed, dedicated and dated by him?

What would Marcel Marcel Duchamp say?

UPDATE: Wednesday, January 5, 2010– This blog article and @judyrey are honored with 15 MINUTES OF FAME via @WarholWednesday on Twitter. For the next week this article is linked and featured on @WarholWednesday’s Twitter Profile page and messages Tweeted about this award!

On November 10, 2009, Judy Rey Wasserman completed a new Essence Portrait of Barack Obama using the letters of the text of Exodus 20 ( Ten Commandments) for all  the  strokes. Below is the portrait plus the artist’s comments about her choice of strokes.

If there were an award for the person who has made the best use of social media and the Internet to date, it would absolutely go to Barack Obama. It is widely understood that Obama won the presidency of the United States due to his incredible and pioneering use of the Internet to reach new and swing voters. Perhaps the presidency is his reward.

As an artist I am creating Essence Portraits and other artworks for a series and show(s) called Essence of Social Media.

Obviously President Obama is one of the celebrities at the very top of my list for this series.

My purpose with the Essence Portraits goes beyond celebrating and commenting on Social Media, such as Facebook, Linkedin, My Space. Twitter, You Tube, etc. My purpose with any Essence Portrait is to show the spiritual, the Source and also the scientific essence within each individual.

I am the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory especially a branch called UnGraven Image I use strokes that are symbols to represent the essential pre-matter/energy of string theory. My symbols are the only set on the planet that is alpha-numeric, phonic and binary, which means they elegantly represent elementary physics’ strings.

Pissarro (a Jew) and Monet (a Catholic), were friends who founded Impressionism to paint the Light, which the understood to be both a religious and scientific reality.

I am founding Post Conceptual Art (painting with strokes that are symbols) painting and sculpting within the branch of UnGraven Image to depict the essential essences, the energy of the universe, which I understand to be both a spiritual and scientific reality.

UnGraven Image’s symbols are the Torah font letter-numbers. This symbol set is also the original font of the Bible. My artistic strokes and processes also always references basic theology held by all denominations and branches of Christians and Jews and also mentioned in the Koran: the Creator speaks the universe into existence beginning with, “Let there be light!” Since the symbols are also always binary, which is synonymous for duality, my work also references concept s of duality, including light/dark, holy/profane and also yin/yang.

The Bible texts for all of my work are selected carefully and prayerfully. For Essence Portraits I consult the people who are subjects if possible for what texts they would prefer.

A while ago I contacted the White House through their web site, politely asking if President Obama had any favorite Bible texts he would prefer me to use for an Essence Portrait of him. Since the Post Conceptual theory of painting with symbols is radically new, I doubt if the intern who handled my request understood it. However, I did immediately receive an emailed reply that my email was received.

My choosing a text for the strokes that would add up to create an image of President Barack Obama was easier than for any other single portrait to date.

Barack Obama’s professional adult life has centered on the law. He is a Harvard trained lawyer who was president of the Harvard Law Review. He has practiced law, taught Constitutional Law, served as a senator (lawmaker) from Illinois and as Chief Executive his job is to uphold and administrate the law.

The basis for the law of the Western and most of the free world is the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. This scripture is suitable for the strokes for an Essence Portraits of Presidents of the United States.

Barack Obama’s use of Social Media to gain the presidency and his continuing use of it, especially Twitter (@BarackObama), as a way to reach his citizens,  coupled with his strong legal experience made creating an Essence Portrait of him using the letters of the Ten Commandments for all the strokes is an appropriate, even elegant choice.

The image below is large enough that you can pick out some of the symbols strokes!

Exodus 20 – (Barack Obama)

By Judy Rey Wasserman

NEW! Added 11/13/09 Poster of Barack Obama -Ten Commandments at our Zazzle store. And check out the other items for the whole family featuring Judy Rey Wasserman’s Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art!

Everything was going well with the new Essence Portraits. I had created one of Andy Warhol, then Rembrandt, then van Gogh. Each of them inspired my art and “taught me much about portraiture from the walls of great museums and galleries. Like Warhol, and the self portraits of these artists, I focused in on the faces, ignoring clothing or other extras that could be used to convey status or wealth.

Things were moving along fine until I came to another artist I’ve lovingly , personally called “Papa Monet” since was a prepubescent girl. I am not quite sure If I came up with that or I learned it from one of the gallerists who took, me under their wings. I suspect the latter.

Since the first Essence Portrait of And Warhol, which set the tone for those of other artists, I strove to combine my style somewhat with theirs. For instance, in Vincent van Gogh’s I made “strings” of tiny symbol-strokes to emulate his longer strong brush strokes. For Rembrandt’s I played with his softness and the light.

Working within the theory of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art, I use the original letters of Bible texts for each and every stroke. My symbol-strokes are the are the only set of alpha-numeric, phonic and binary symbols in the world. They elegantly represent the strings of elementary physics, which like phonic letters are either energy (sound) or pre-matter (written), basic and essential (prime numbers and phonic letters) to our binary physical universe. Thus, the term, Essence Portraits.

I wanted to keep my focus on the subject’s head, and creating a basic black and white portrait that could be then used in various ways, similar to the way that Warhol used his silk-screened portraits. Usually that is what I create for a basic Essence Portrait.

Except for Claude Monet. For a while, his portrait had me stumped.

As I stared at my initial portraits of Monet, I knew something was missing. But what?

Actually, I had the text I knew I was to use, a Psalm that seems to me to refer to Monet. That was one of the first ones I had as I peruse through Bible texts searching for appropriate ones for portraits, wildlife and other paintings.

The difficulty was whatever I drew and painted did look like Monet, but somehow it was wrong – a likeness that was missing his essence. My portrait looked like Monet, but failed to capture him.

This went on for a week, on and off as I pondered Papa Monet and his life.

I first learned about the wonder and even magic of strokes from Monet, who “held” regular classes for me through his works that hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I learned about art from many of the works of artists at the Met and MOMA, from the time that I was a pre-teen growing up in NYC, armed with a passionate curiosity about art, way too much free time that needed to be spent away from home, passes for free public transportation, plus, most importantly as a student I enjoyed free admittance to all of the art museums in Manhattan.

Being nearsighted, actually with better than normal vision up close, I have always been most comfortable getting as close to things I want to see (especially art). I will get as close as I can without letting my nose touch the work to see the strokes.

Since I was at the Met on an almost every other day schedule, except for summers, and also at MoMA regularly, their guards came to know me, trust me and even watch over me as I roamed and explored. It did not take long until they allowed me to get as up close and personal as I wanted with paintings as they knew I would never touch one, plus out of respect, I even held my breath, usually making a grand display of that effort. I laugh now, because I sort of took a gulp and went “into” a painting much like a diver. Back in my girlhood on wintry or bad weather afternoons the Met was fairly empty, and there were times that I was the only person in some of the rooms, including those that have Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.

Monet taught me more about how to paint and strokes than anyone, except van Gogh.

Monet’s strokes are multi-colored, multi-sized, textural blobs of paint. Unlike the Pointillist Seurat, Monet’s strokes are not of one size, they overlap and one grand cascading jumble of color. Certainly more than any other artist’s work, my original approach to using symbol-strokes was influenced by Monet. My colors are almost always influenced by Monet’s.

We know that Monet painted outdoors, including in horrible weather, working quickly to catch the light, that he would return to the same spot to paint day after day, as change between canvasses, each canvas only worked on for the time that the light was relatively the same as when it was begun. Thus there are series of paintings that show the movement of light through the day. Monet painted in a hurry, capturing the essence of a place, capturing its light. His strokes are the hurried and thoughtful strokes of a master; they are the notes of a symphony of color that he plays upon his canvases.

It took a man who was strong, physically and in resolution to produce the art that Monet did. Physically, he endured long days outdoors in the cold or heat. Most of his paintings were created outdoors as Monet painted what he immediately saw. To do this he was lugging around paints, brushes, solvents, an easel and lots of canvases, from location to location, often on foot. He would stand all day long in whatever conditions, painting. He was strong is resolution, too as he struggled for a long time to make ends meet for his wife Camille and their two children. Then after her death he continued to struggle to take care of his two sons plus the family of Alice Hoschedé, who became his second wife, and her six children. We see photographs of his large studio at Giverney, and an older prosperous Momet, but that came later in his life.

Monet’s career spanned the emergence of photography on into the twentieth century, so we have photographs of him, as well as portraits. In one of my favorites, he is youngish, and has a walking stick in his hand; he pauses for the camera for a moment clearly about to resume his walk. Monet was a strong, vital, good looking man and clearly from his output of paintings and projects at Giverney, very physically active. Only in a few of the last photographs, after he was famous and well, older, does he seem slowed down – but he ever physically active, calm but in motion.

To capture the essence of Monet, the artist in his prime, I needed his body, at least his strong shoulders that had supported so much and so many, and perhaps Impressionism, which ushered in Modern Art. An Essence Portrait of Monet needed his strong broad shoulders to capture his essence.

To capture Monet I needed to include his heavy, worn winter coat– the one that kept him warm as he worked outside on cold winter days and his hat. His is the only portrait so far where the background is painted. Energy fills the space around him. He is the authentic painter of light and like that light he is ever changing energy, penetrating whatever we can see.

I discarded my failed head shot portraits and began again.

Now the work was better, but difficult to complete as something was still missing.

Monet without color is, well, not Monet.

So, I deviated from the pure black and white of the other Essence Portraits, using a third color by adding pure while strokes to the ivory paper.  Monet’s Essence Portrait has more shading, and layers of paint than any other portrait to date.  There is a bit of the purest white in his eyes, those eyes that saw such color and light!

Thus, in my own first portrait of Monet that seemed acceptable, that captured Monet, his essence, and his blobs of strokes permeated the whole of the space, the paper, not just the image of his physical body. He takes over the whole space the way that dynamic and charismatic people can enter a room, most quietly, but their vital energy colors the space with their presence.

Once again, I learn from Monet.

Psalm 97  (Claude Monet) by Judy Rey Wasserman

[Note: for more about Monet 's influence on Judy Rey Wasserman and UnGraven Image theory see: Monet’s Blobs and the Hebrew Letters

For those who celebrate Halloween—and those who don’t!

Although Halloween has pagan Celtic origins, Apple O’Lantern uses the original letters of Psalm 17 for strokes to refer to spiritual concepts of Christian and Jewish faiths– as does its unique image.  Look closely at the image and you can see some of the Torah font alpha-numeric symbols and traces of others.

The first time the concept of “Apple of God’s eye” appears in the Bible is in Deuteronomy XXXII, 10 as part of a song spoken by Moses: “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

A second reference says: “That which one holds dearest, as in ‘You’re the apple of my eye.’ The phrase is from the Bible (Deuteronomy XXXII:10), which says the Lord kept Israel “as the apple of his eye.”

Psalm XVII, 8 uses the concept as a kid of prayer request:  ”Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings”.

This happy Apple O’Lantern celebrates being the apple of His eye, the harvest and fits in perfectly while proudly upholding the Christian and Jewish traditions during the fall and harvest celebrations.

Watch for an upcoming blog post about this exciting new fine art series for the kid in everyone.

See clothes for the whole family, cards, bags, mugs, cards, posters and more stuff at Judy Rey’s Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art Store

Fall Tree Aleph is created of the original letters of Deuteronomy 6. These include the famous Shema, which all observant Jews, since the time of Moses (thus including John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples) pray every morning and evening.

“Hear Oh Israel , the LORD your God, the LORD is one” – the Shema, Deut. 6:4

Deuteronomy 6 also includes another daily prayer, also said since the time of Moses: the Vahavta. The Vahavta instructs, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Fall Tree Aleph is part of a mini series within the Trees of Life series called “Seasons of Trees.” It is the tree that represents autumn, as religiously significant time for Jews and the early Jewish-Christians. Known as the High Holy Days, this spiritual season begins with Rosh Hashanah. The Hebrew word “Rosh” means “Head” and the literal translation is “head of the year.” This New Year holiday commemorates the beginning or birth of Man, specifically Genesis’ Adam.

Fall Tree Aleph Seasons of Trees series by Judy Rey Wasserman

Christian scholars believe that Jesus was born either during the fall celebrations or the ones in the spring as that was when Jews headed to Israel,  plus there were astronomical events that are believed to have possibly been the Star of Bethlehem. The majority of scholars believe that Jesus was born in the fall.

As the Son of Man the birth of Jesus on the eve of Rosh Hashanah makes theological sense from a Jewish-Christian perspective. Being born at that time would have been meaningful to Herod, who was a Jew and would have understood the possible ramifications for such a time of birth for the real heir of David’s throne. Frankly, if one were doing PR for the baby Jesus such a birthday could not be beat for Jews who awaited a messiah and also a resurrection of the kingship of David’s lineage, overturning Roman rule, and also Herod.

The most sacred and solemn day of the Jewish calendar is Yom Kippur, a day of fast and communal repentance. It follows after Rosh Hashanah by a ten days.

A week later is Sukkot, also known as the feast and festival of Booths. It recalls the time the Tribes of Israel dwelt in tents (booths) in the desert. Temporary tents are erected where families and communities enjoy festive meals.

Thanksgiving is similar in many ways to Sukkot. Both are about the gathering of families in communal festive meals that celebrate the harvest but also an successful ending to a difficult period. While American Thanksgiving illustrations depict Pilgrims and Algonquin people sharing a meal, I have often wondered if they had erected temporary tents using skins or clothes as the weather was probably cooler and could turn inclement.

Thus the fall festivals are communal occasions.

The text of the Vahavta points strongly to family and community as it instructs followers, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way …”

Then it goes on to personalize one’s relationship to the commandments, “…and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

In other words, ponder and communicate, in thought, word and deed our love of the Lord with all love the LORD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might., everywhere and always, thus influencing others by example while gaining personal growth.

You can collect a signed, numbered limited edition print of Fall Tree Aleph, which should prove to be a better than average investment over time at (click:)Fall Tree Aleph Fine Art Print.

You can also bring this image into your daily life and share it with others who see you, where you live or work and your stuff through our (click:) Zazzle store. You can also click on the panel below, which currently features Fall Tree Aleph items.