The volume and accompanying exhibition discuss the creation of sacred space in the 21st century, examining 28 works by Tobi Kahn including his recent commission for Congregation Emau-El B'ne Jeshrun in Milwaukee. Each work is accompanied by a Meditation by novelist and poet Nessa Rapoport. From large canvasses with biomorphic forms to three-dimensional pieces such as the art nouveau-influenced thrones, Kahn's work has a presence that is immediately striking, and his reputation has grown steadily since his inclusion in the Guggenheim's New Horizons in American Art show in 1985. Much of Kahn's art, especially his landscapes, is ambiguously abstract, inviting the viewer to project onto it their own ideas, feelings and desires. Acting as aids to contemplation, they can be seen as building on the work of Romantic artists who sought to capture the majesty of nature and imbue it with divine resonance. AUTHOR: Ena Giurescu Heller is director of MOBIA; David Morgan is professor of religion at Duke University; Rabbi Daniel Sperber is professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Klaus Ottman is an art critic and curator; Jeff Edwards is masters candidate at the Department of Art Criticism and Writing at the School of Visual Arts, NYC; Nessa Rapoport is the author of Objects of the Spirit: Ritual and the Art of Tobi Kahn (2004) ILLUSTRATIONS 50 colour 6 b/w illustrations *
