The Rebbe and Art

An artist relates his personal encounters with the Rebbe, beginning from the age of 15

He said an artist needs inspiration, that you have to wait for a certain thing to come down--he called it the 'holy spirit'--and for him putting on tefillin gave him his inspiration for the day...

Surrounded by original paintings and bas-relief mosaics, long-white-bearded Michoel Muchnik was working on a 3D mosaic of Shabbat and holiday candlesticks when I arrived at his Brooklyn studio.

"How is your art coming along?" he asked. "I want to hold an exhibition," I answered. "Yes, yes, of course," said the Rebbe. "You should. Each person on this earth is allotted a task. You have a talent... use it."

Mrs. Lifschitz had been advised by Jewish leaders that the phoenix is a non-Jewish symbol. How could it be placed in Jerusalem, no less? I was standing near the door to the Rebbe's office that night, when he called for me and asked that I bring him the book of Job from his bookshelf

A sapling is vulnerable to even the slightest scratch. On a full-grown tree the scratch will go unnoticed. Yet, on a sapling it will cause severe permanent damage.

How does a painting compel us to see its subject in a new light? And how is this to be applied to the art of life? A letter to a depressed artist

Those who have been Divinely gifted in art, whether sculpture or painting and the like, have the privilege of being able to convert an inanimate thing, such as a brush, paint and canvas, or wood and stone, etc., into living form.

Many pieces of fine art involve an interplay of light and shadow key elements in the composition of almost every artistic work. At first glance, a shadow appears to be something that conceals light.

Michoel Muchnik, who just opened a gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y., tells of artistic suggestions given him by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.