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I

n one of Samuel Bak's earliest
paintings, "Rumours," a small
child overhears a roomful of
adults as they console each
other. His eyes are opened wide
as he listens to horrific rumors
of what happened to Jewish
families who once lived in
Eastern Europe and then per-
ished during the Nazi occupation.
The child's stilled expression
holds the secret of survival —
righteousness and memory, the
material of great sermons and
high art.

The work of Samuel Bak can
be considered a conscience on
landscape. He offers a disjointed
universe, yet simultaneously a
peaceful world of subtle irony. An
international artist, Mr. Bak has
paintings in museums in Paris,
Rome and Israel. And for nine
years in the 1970s, his work trav-
eled throughout Germany.
Through Jan. 12, Mr. Bak's
work will be shown in metro De-
troit
"Samuel Bak: A Retrospective
Journey, 1946-1994," at the Jew-

ish Community Center in
West Bloomfield, shows how
the commonplace, idyllic
and worshiped icons can be
transformed and manipu-
lated. His challenging im-
agery doesn't hold neat
explanations or aesthetic
answers. Its power lies in its
accessibility — and provoca-
tiveness. He takes common
images (keys, locks, clocks,
soldiers, chess pieces) and
shows the viewer an un-
common perspective.
"He's commenting on the
human condition and the
excesses of power," said
Sylvia Nelson, director and
curator at the Center's Jan-
ice Charach Epstein Muse-
um Gallery. "He deals with
symbols of fate — if you're
at the wrong place at the
wrong time, it's a roll of the
dice."
The 91-painting exhibit
spans Mr. Bak's career,
work Mrs. Nelson compares
to the old masters. He
paints layers upon layers of
glazes, sketches beautifully
and creates highly detailed
and creative images on the
canvas."
Earlier paintings reflect
Mr. Bak's training with the
cubist and abstract painters
in Rome and Paris. And as
a whole, the retrospective
offers an evolutionary view
of the artist.
The work takes on two
motifs: still life and the
Holocaust. Both themes fo-
cus on showing that there's
always more than meets the
eye. Most of Mr. Bak's
paintings exist in a me-
dieval-like atmosphere. His
still life paintings are en-
gaging, sensuous and in-
ventive. But when it comes
to his penetrating images of
the Holocaust, the exhibit
takes on a larger, moralis-
tic dimension.
Combining the common sym-
bols of Judaism with some of the
most painful memories of recent
history, Mr. Bak creates a de-
tailed and highly symbolic land-
scape to expose his doubts, fears
and righteous passion. With the
surrealist's gift for juxtaposition,
he shows the fallen hands of time;
a chilling wasteland where train
cars carry broken commandment
tablets and Shabbat candles, and
the tragic irony of a stone key
that never quite reaches the lock.
Two of Mr. Bak's paintings, ac-