Dining

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Core City. Palmer Park. The installation view at MOCAD.

JN: Do you still have family in
Israel? How were you raised reli-
giously?
TR: I have a big family in Israel,
stretching from kibbutzniks to
haredim. I went to Jewish school.
When I was 7 years old, I asked the
rabbi in school, “How can I believe
in God when I can’t see him?”
He answered, “Have you been in
America?” I said “No.” He said, “Then
how can you know America exists?”
In my childhood home, my
mother lit candles every Shabbat.
We sang songs that we didn’t under-
stand the meaning of. Even today, 51
years old, I love all these songs that I
don’t understand.

JN: Tell me about your art phi-
losophy, what it means to you
and what you hope it will mean
to viewers.
TR: Art is the only job in society
that talks freely about what it is
like to be a human. Art is allowed
to disappoint. Art gives more ques-
tions than answers. Art destroys
you. Art builds you up.

JN: What kind of resources did
you rely on to try to visualize
what Detroit is like?
TR: I visualized images that exist

most places on Earth, such as
trains, clowns, fat cats, graphic
systems, bridges and horses. I
combined these images with
neighborhood names. The viewer
is placed between the image and
the name.

GUIDE

Ad deadline is
July 12, 2018

Issue date
July 19, 2018

JN: When you visited Detroit,
what were your impressions?
TR: I spent a lot of time in Detroit
driving around neighborhood and
industrial areas. What happened
to Detroit happens to most cities
every 200 years: They melt down.
This makes the city look poetic —
everything suddenly seems broken.
But, more important, everything
seems possible again.

JN: Do you have a favorite paint-
ing in the series?
TR: My favorite painting is the
big fat cat hanging upside-down.
It is only the second cat I’ve ever
painted. The first cat I painted was
in a psychiatric hospital. •

Call Keith
for advertising
248-351-5107

details

Tal R’s “: this is not Detroit” runs
through July 29 at MOCAD.
(313) 832-6622;
mocadetroit.org.

COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART DETROIT (MOCAD)

Follow us online

Detroit Jewish News

@JewishNewsDet

GET THE JN
DELIVERED TO
YOUR DOOR
EVERY WEEK!

Go to thejewishnews.com
and click “Subscribe”

@detroitjewishnews

000000

jn

July 5 • 2018

35