THE TORAH PROJECT

To complement the exquisite scripture of this Hebrew Bible of the Torah, the Jewish religious art contains unique illustrations done by the Jewish Cuban artist - Baruj Salinas. His visual interpretations were completed by the end of 2014 exclusively for this book and are acclaimed as one of the most meaningful, and most recent interpretations of this sacred text. It features informative, historical-religious and artistic-cultural reflections based on contemporary academic research and includes the artist’s spiritual and emotional vision. With these paintings Baruj Salinas proposes visually complex comprehension of the Torah. This is demonstrated through creative iconographic constructions, giving a persuasive insight into a contemporary society.

 

What the paintings composed of? 

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This collection of modern religious art consists of 27 paintings which are based on the artist’s interpretation of all the main aspects of the 5 books of Moses, and the key Jewish symbols which represent the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

 

How were the paintings created?

 

These series of religious paintings were constructed around the dichotomy of dark and light colors, and backgrounds and shapes, which are used as metaphors for the emergence of life from nothingness. The transition between non-existence and creation were produced using differing tonalities and gradation of colors which express various forms of life and the universe, and the events of creation described in the book of Genesis. These Jewish religious art paintings recall the primeval chaos at the point when time began. They demonstrate the exaltation of God’s power, and how He used His divine light to define the cosmos.

 

The exceptional vision of Baruj Salinas’s biblical interpretations are remarkable not only for the variety of the pictorial solutions that were adopted, but also for the spiritual messages that are expressed. The colors, light and the images are instruments which allow him to capture and unveil the symbolic dimension of the biblical universe which reveal the circumstances of the past, combined with the historical feeling of the present.

 

What were the artist’s intentions of the religious art? 

 

The religious paintings are delicate aesthetic objects, constructed within a defined framework, in which one is guided into a peaceful and spiritual state which allows the viewer to fully appreciate Baruj Salinas’s artistic interpretations. The artist intends to connect viewers to a distant past and preserve their positive impressions of modern religious art and its spiritual nature. In virtue of these dimensions Baruj Salinas’s artistic vision intends to grab the attention of viewers, influencing them to undergo a sort of visual ecstasy and penetrate their superficial consciousness with enlightened realisations. Therefore viewers will delve into an extremely cosmogenic atmosphere and experience intense emotional energy aided by sublime visual effects of various degrees of light.