Irish Talent
Who would have thought that Dublin could produce such a unique talent as that of Mrs Laura Sykes. Having recently just experienced her latest work I have been compelled to expound such a remarkable talent. Mrs Sykes was born into a prominent family within the Dublin Jewish community in 1979. The Jewish community of Dublin only numbers 800 and so this Jewish artist is a remarkable find. Mrs Sykes has been an award-winning artist since an early age and she attributes most of her inspiration to her firm Jewish roots growing up with the smell of freshly baked challahs throughout her home and chagim with all the trimmings. Her most recent collection is mesmerising, not only for its originality and uniqueness but also its depth of thought for some one so young. The theme of this collection is an abstract representation of the Tehillim.
The tehillim by their very
nature are there to help people find inspiration or support in times of need or
as a sign of happiness in times of joy. Laura looked to the Psalms for her own
inspiration and wanted to try to capture their magic as an expression of her
own love of Jewish texts. Using the tehllim as a spring board for her
imagination she has produced a set of 29 pieces each one uniquely expressing
the feeling that she felt when reading the scripture, Her recent approach is
nothing new in her work, similarly her love of Judaism is a constant source of
ideas for her previous works. Among her earlier pieces to be found in her home
there is still a huge Judaic theme these include a painting of one of the first
tractors from kibbutz Deganya photographed on a family holiday to Israel in
1997 and a collage painting inspired by the words in a letter written by the heroic Yoni Netanyahu, this is a far
cry from the designs in architecture for which she has a degree in from the
University of Manchester UK.
Some of the highlights from
her collection demonstrate how there is really something there for everyone
because it is so diverse in style and colour. Not wanting to try and replicate an image of what G-d has
created but rather to abstract that which has been given to us to express an
understanding of the sadness, hope and glory found throughout the psalms her
pieces are very different from the traditional religious paintings.
Within her Tehillim series is a mini-series composed of the 7
tehillim recited on their respective days of the week. On Yom Rishon (pictured below) we
recite psalm 24. Painting using
soft dreamy tones for the scene this is a light painting hinting at the
openness of Heaven above. G-d is
the sole power and since the first day of creation everything is His. We pray for the gates to His most high,
for the pathway to re-build the Temple, to be open for us. One who is
spiritually clean and honest may ascend the mountain of G-d and enter
through the gates to receive a blessing.
It is a welcoming, bright space with G-d’s hand descending from above to
meet those who choose to come forth and accept His sovereignty, his
Oneness. The bold lettering asking
the rhetorical question “Who is
the Glorious G-d!” stand before the threshold of the gates, where the light and
view of the hand beckons us forward to proclaim His greatness as it was, is and
will be from the first day of creation.
Her award-winning piece focuses on Yerushalayim and takes its inspiration from the famous verse “If I forget thee O Jerusalem may my right hand forget its cunning”, psalm 137. We see Jerusalem shining in a mass of populated golden colours supported from above by the thick clouds of the heavens and carved from the foundations beneath. The power and majesty of the city as the rest of the world lies in G-d’s supportive hand. It is to Jerusalem that we look even in our exile, to the centre point of Hashem’s holy Presence, a centre point grasped on throughout the psalms and thus emanated in many of Sykes’ works.
In times of trouble the most
well uttered psalm has to be that of number 121: “I raise my eyes to the
mountains, from where will come my help?”
The answer is simple and answered in the question itself. Likewise Laura’s depiction of the psalm
is simple and both asks and answers the question. Whilst the wide eye looks out with the heavy mountains
resting above, asking for help, it also rests easy beneath their bedded comfort
knowing that G-d is there as solid as they are, that the One who created the
heavens above and the earth beneath us, gave us the sun and the moon as
protection will be there in our “going and coming”, our exile and return.
In a very different
expression of G-d’s protection over us we see an even bigger abstract step in
her work with psalm 125. Soft
green rings in many shades, imitating contours on a map, wrap themselves around
a white burst of paint. They
represent Hashem enwrapping His nation, as the mountains enwrap Jerusalem. Just as the mountains surrounding
Jerusalem protect it, Hashem protects the righteous Jewish nation.
Contrast is a
major component of her expression of psalm 115, which forms part of the Hallel
prayer. With this psalm prayer is
uttered to redeem the Jewish people for His sake, not ours, so that the people
of the world can see His true mastery, as opposed to the idols they have
worshipped. Their idols “have a mouth,
but cannot speak; have eyes but cannot see; have ears but cannot hear; have a
nose but cannot smell…their feet – they cannot walk”. Like the makers and worshippers of them who do not use what
G-d has given them as it should be, to partake of all the beauty of the world
and give praise to Him. The
contrast of the stone-like grey of the closed eye and mouth, the still foot, up
against the bright colours emphasises the waste of these great facets. The misplacement of the words with the
wrong features increases the confusion felt at the world’s inability to
recognise and praise its Maker.
Many of the psalms may seem
like desperate cries for help in terrible situations, but they also convey a
deep hope in the ultimate redemption.
Psalm 132 calls to G-d to “arise to Your resting place”, requesting the
re-building of the Temple, the heralding of the Moshiach and the ultimate reign
of Hashem. In Sykes’ chosen
representation she paints a bold wooden chair, standing as a throne on a red
carpet, a step up from the nation but with a further step up to G-d’s place in
the white distance. Its simple
form and colour, the empty object in the clearly defined space, just waits
quietly still to be filled in its time.
Back to nature,
the present, what we have now, psalm 113 calls on the people to praise
G-d. In a simple representation of the wonderful
everyday occurrence of the sunrise and sunset, Sykes uses bright shafts of
colour to transform the beauty of this event, that plays an integral part in
the cycle of life, into a celebratory praise of G-d: “From the rising of the
sun to the going down of the same the L-rd’s name is to be praised”. Once again not trying to imitate nature
but rather to abstract from it a meaning and focus for our energies.
Throughout the rest of the
collection Sykes shows her remarkable talent by visually interpreting the
age-old religious source, and meshing it with her contemporary artistic flair. She now lives in London where
she continues to imbue her religious passion within her new pieces, giving new
life to the heritage that she holds so dear.