Welcome to The Bio page of Jewish artist Elie Benzaquen

Artist's Statement By ELIE BENZAQUEN

"My goal as an artist is to create works of classical endurance that would give the viewer a vision of my unique cultural life as I see it joyous, colourful, and optimistic..."

I was born into a very artistic yet religious family of Morrocan heritage and was raised in London, England. Due to religious preconceptions and prejudices, the value of my artistic abilities, noteworthy at a very young age, was minimized and perhaps stifled over the importance of rigorous academic ancient Bible study. I desire today to challenge those notions and bring a better understanding of art and through my art, especially to my ethnical and cultural group.

My father being a religious and devout man, focused and perhaps limited his talents to the ancient scribal skills required by our religion to create hand scripted Bible scrolls. My mother, being skilled in sewing and embroidery, crafted religious head coverings for women and sacramental objects. Her father, in his village of Fez, Morocco, was an ornamental wood craftsman who created furniture and small decorative wood objects. While artistic talents and skills played a major part in my upbringing, it was the Bible and religion that dominated our life. I remember drawing and painting as a child in school and visiting museums in London, England where we lived at the time, our main reason for moving there being the religious education available.

My teenage years were steered towards a path of Bible study and religious life but I persisted at the same time to create and even sell various works of art despite the fact that it was frowned upon by my superiors. In my early twenties I decided to break free of the strict religious path that had been imposed upon me during my childhood and chose to follow a more humane and joyful way of life. At this time I began to further my training and abilities in art, under various art teachers both in South and North America. At the present time I have pursued my art exclusively, with the dream to inspire my people through my depiction of a way of life that is both contemporary and yet steeped in ancient traditions going back to the Exodus to Egypt.

I truly believe that G-d wants me to use my abilities to the utmost and share them with the world out large. I wish to do away with misconceptions about my religious way of life in which I have faith, and show that it is indeed colourful, joyous, and optimistic. Which is the way I perceive it - and want to give everyone my pair of glasses to see the world as I see it.

I want my cultural group to appreciate that art has a role even in religious circles and that many talented and creative youth to be aware that there are other options besides studying ancient religious texts. Furthermore, I wish to encourage respect for those individuals who choose to live a life where art, its medium, and its message are their chosen vocation.

There is a great need of a more diverse curriculum especially in music and art, areas which have unfortunately, been neglected due to limited resources and a failure to appreciate their importance in a diversified world. Having experienced firsthand the value of art in a child's creative and even psychological growth, I feel it is of great importance for me to promote and raise the stature of art in the Jewish world, giving it the prominence that it deserves.
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Catherine Firestone Ahearn, Ph.D.,
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada

Elie Benzaquen, Artist

Elie Benzaquen's spirit soars when he is fulfilling his mission: communicating the light of Torah in his art. At age 34 he has already developed a unique style, unique themes and unique goals. A knowing eye can therefore recognize "Benzaquen" in an instant - the imprint of his soul is unmistakable, no matter the subject or medium.

Benzaquen's goals are simple and complex as the messages in Torah: Benzaquen seeks to make art live by having the day-to-day activities of Jewish tradition leap out at
the viewer with hominess, warmth unexpected detail and a "being-thereness" that invites you to sit with children who are joyfully reading, stand beside the young girl, lighting a Sabbath candle with expectant breath, or slip beside the Rebbe as he studies, his heart charged with fresh illuminations.

Benzaquen seeks to demonstrate that modernity can work together with the classical foundations of Torah, that the Orthodox lifestyle is not a private mystery and private passion, but one that deserves its place in the sun in our contemporary world thirsting, perhaps as never before, for spiritual nourishment, vitality, depth and meaning.

Benzaquen seeks to answer a common question: how does Torah study and a religious lifestyle relate to today's society? He does so by making his work relevant meaningful and accessible to all, even as he crowns each life-scene with a mystical aura.

Living art, living Orthodoxy, living Torah, inspirational imagery that brings people into the home and hearth of contemporary Jewry, relevance, depth of meaning and accessability, diffusion of age-old mystery with new-found life, love and joy - these are some of the touchstones of Benzaquen's work.

As he says: "My art is my way of serving G-d. If I can inspire through my images I can share the joy I experience in my Torah life and give it back to the community... There is great value in someone living the Orthodox lifestyle and portraying it with boldness and motivation... One point I've learned in Torah life is to love your fellow Jews as yourself, so I share my joy in Torah, and my love, in my art."

Art, for Elie Benzaquen, is a lifetime commitment, a mitzvah, his tender contribution to making the world a better, safer more enjoyable and more meaningful place as the new millenium ushers in chaos before the calm.

This Ottawa artist, Rabbi, scribe and film animator, who has studied in London, Caracas, New-York, Israel, and Canada has not only introduced magic realism in his oeuvre, but mystical realism. Against a backdrop of homespun detail, he reveals divinely - inspired illumination: The light of G-d in the eyes of a boy touching the gilt and peach scrolls of the ark; the otherwordly sparks in the Sabbath candle being lit by a girl in heaven-sent prayer: Rebbe Schneershon hovering between a rolling blue earth and a pink-auraed temple of Paradise; the palpable daydreams on the face of the candle- lighting boy in the "The sixth night;". The glow of splendor and joy in the face and hand of a young girl as she manages to reach a Mezuzah by standing on her tiptoes on a chair;

The contact made with a higher sphere by a Tzaddik in meditative prayer; the Divine fire in the Hebrew letters and purposeful face of "The apprentice scribe"; "The soul of Rebbe Schneershon hovering here, there and everywhere as he is suspended between yellow-mauve heaven and a reddish room in "More Than in His Lifetime". No matter how matter a fact Benzaquen's subjects may appear, a sublime and esoteric light suffuses even the tiniest detail. It is precisely in the trademark play of textured light and shade that the secrets of each artwork, and his soul, lay buried for connoisseurs to reveal.

His colours, always used judiciously, and always heightened seem to issue from another dimension; the blues, pinks, whites and blacks of his garments deepen the spirits of the young and old he adorns.

It is only a matter of time and exposure before Elie Benzaquen's G-d given gift is recognized world-wide and his genius crowned.

Catherine Firestone Ahearn

Catherine Firestone Ahearn is a bilingual writer holding a Ph.D., McGill, Aix-en-Provence, Ottawa Universities. She has written extensively on art and artists ( Marc Chagall, Alfred Pellan, A.Y.Jackson). She acquired her passion for art as a teenager, daughter of the much appreciated collectors, Dr. and Mrs. O. J. Firestone. The family collection was donated to the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 1971, and is currently housed at Art's Court, Ottawa. She lectures at Ottawa University and has published seven books in English and French. She is a political and freelance speechwriter and has done extensive public speaking in her own right.