Law, Society and Art

The Past, Present and Future of Social Change Examined by Art

Self Portrait from the series, “Tolstoy and I.” 10”x7.75” Conte pencil on pages of 1937 edition of, “War and Peace.”

Our times have inspired me to create a new drawing series, "Tolstoy and I," represented by the Anita Rogers Gallery. I have initiated this series of conte pencil self-portraits on the torn pages of my late mother’s 1937 edition of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," in the original Cyrillac and French. Tolstoy began writing this epic novel 165 years ago. The book has been banned in Ukraine, including in my father’s place of birth, Odesa, because of Russia's war on that country. Tolstoy wrote that the Russian military could only prevail if they believed they were engaged in a moral cause. My drawings are contemplative exercises in finding moral cause, in my family’s history, in today’s historical events, and in relationship to Tolstoy’s journey as an artist and a person, through the bloody political conflicts of his historical times and ours.

As I create these drawings, I am also preparing for an event on Valentine's Day which will examine how our relationships between law, art and political justice might inform our future:

Law in Art and Art in Law: Charting a New Course for Society, will be moderated by Gale Elston and Aviva Rahmani. It has been scheduled for the College Art Association 113th Annual Conference:

Session date and time: Fri, February 14, 11:00 AM- 12:30 PM Eastern Time
Location: On location at the New York Hilton Midtown, in room: Nassau East

Panelists will address some of the questions confronting artists and the artworld about law and justice as the new administration establishes itself in the United States and the world. This panel will include.

Blessy Augustin, Madelen Clarke Benson, Steven Bleicher, Eliza Evans, Sharon Hecker, Ellen Levy, James McConnell, Rae Root, Elizabeth Shores with Vikram Patel, and Rebecca Zorach