As usual Eve tells it like it is. Love to you and all the Jewish artists musicians writers etc who are being cancelled for being Jewish. I support you all. You give me courage and I’m sure many others feel the same.
Unfortunately the art world, broadly speaking, became irrelevant to the public discourse many years ago. It's now a self-segregated echo chambered ghetto. I see it in my little corner of it, photography. The Jewish photographers I know and especially the Israeli ones went underground after October 7. One or two exceptions, but. A friend's large Insta account got closed down after he posted a few Hamas-phobic posts.
Jews will do what they always have. Keep creating. Form their own performance spaces. Keep going.
Last night I attended the book launch here in Vancouver of Selina Robinson's book "Truth be Told". Selina was a high ranking provincial politician driven out of her 'progressive' party after October 7th because she was Jewish. Isolated, vilified and fired as a minister. Get her book and read her story. It's as sad as it is familiar. And yes, the artist that created the cover of the book (which she did as a response to the 6 hostages that were executed a few months ago) is suffering professional consequences, ie. less work.
Thanks for another great read. Interesting how you discovered Noga. I saw her post and knew that she was an artist that I needed to dial up in my playlist. More importantly, I was happy that she was using her voice to fight antisemitism. Pure artistry is beautiful to see and listen to. When hate discolors artistry, this is a sign that society is in distress.
Thank you for the introductions. Noga Erez is a true example of what art represents within the human experience. Also your writing on music is as evocative as contemplating a Marc Chagall painting.
“It is because we are Jews. It does not matter if we are loud or quiet. It is because we are Jews. I only captured part of the paragraph. The words stopped me because of the simple, uncomplicated truth. It is because we are Jews
Bought the song “Vandalist” because I liked it. Then thought “what the heck” and bought the whole album in solidarity. Made me feel the tiniest bit better
Great unerring extended rant - though additionally I would have liked to experience some of that 'Chassidic Electro'. Prob' ly already heard some of it but with no label on it.
The immense respect I have for Noga Erez (thanks for the introduction, btw) as an artist and human is inversely proportional to how utter a twat I find Sally Rooney to be.
I discovered Noga by chance on Instagram and got hooked on Views and Russo’s line “us Jews we don’t like to loose”. Eve and Noga, Bibi is another Trump fighting for all the Jews! It is another “Hero’s Journey”.
The haters' blacklisting and boycotts will push their way to the front of the line to get Israeli-developed cures for cancer. Hell, they'll forget all about their "ideals" the day Israeli scientists release a drug that regrows hair, eliminates wrinkles or increases d*ck size.
You know, it's hard to tell whether the discrimination has gotten a lot worse or if it was always there and now is not so sly. It used to be, they kept us out because the quality of our work sucked, even if it was fricking great, even if it was next league, and they would ensure we would be kept out by changing the definition of what was good to ensure we didn't fit in it.
And all those years, like 30 years when I was locked out of the art world for what, being too realistic? being too female? being too je ne sais quoi? I just hung my head, said, "OK, just not good enough, just not trendy enough, just not what they're looking for, they're not my audience, got to find my audience, got to get better, got to get better."
This year, I submitted a bunch of pieces to a prestigious international painting salon. I've been a finalist there four times, never won a prize. The only piece that didn't make semi-finalist was blatantly Zionist; the title was, "Jerusalem if I Forget You." When I posted that piece to Instagram right after I finished it, I got almost no likes. A couple of days ago, I varnished and framed it and posted an image of it hanging on my wall, only I didn't say the title. The crowd went wild, comments like, "Amazing!" or "Powerful!" or "I am blown away!" All kinds of colleagues I respect loved it, and what's interesting, they were seeing it for the first time. So yes, IG throttles, but it was and remains a great piece, why didn't it even make semifinalist in that big show, why has it been rejected every place I've submitted it?
When almost all the artists of the Barcelona atelier tried to cancel the blue chip realist David Kassan from showing at the prestigious venue, MEAM, and they spelled out it's because he, the evil Zionist, had the temerity to paint sympathetic images of Holocaust survivors, I knew I wasn't imagining things. I've shown at MEAM. Didn't get a prize, but then I'm just not their type.
Not my audience, not my people, that's OK, gotta find your people.
My mother used to say, whenever Jews didn't get the job or didn't get accepted into something, "Antisemitism," and I rolled my eyes and thought, "That is so facile, you can't just call all your failures antisemitism, you have to be better." Now I think she was partially right and I was partially right. Yes, antisemitism is *and was* ubiquitous, that sometimes in the past people were being kept out because they sucked but also sometimes because their names were wrong. And that this has and always will happen, and because of that we have to be twenty times better than the competition. And of course that means they will just change the goalposts, so that what was considered good is now considered shit and what used to be considered shit now is good, because that is what they do.
And when they keep us out, we start our own thing. We have always done this.
Separate but equal is never equal. But it's something.
As usual Eve tells it like it is. Love to you and all the Jewish artists musicians writers etc who are being cancelled for being Jewish. I support you all. You give me courage and I’m sure many others feel the same.
Unfortunately the art world, broadly speaking, became irrelevant to the public discourse many years ago. It's now a self-segregated echo chambered ghetto. I see it in my little corner of it, photography. The Jewish photographers I know and especially the Israeli ones went underground after October 7. One or two exceptions, but. A friend's large Insta account got closed down after he posted a few Hamas-phobic posts.
Jews will do what they always have. Keep creating. Form their own performance spaces. Keep going.
Oh and fuck Sally Rooney. Irish trash.
Last night I attended the book launch here in Vancouver of Selina Robinson's book "Truth be Told". Selina was a high ranking provincial politician driven out of her 'progressive' party after October 7th because she was Jewish. Isolated, vilified and fired as a minister. Get her book and read her story. It's as sad as it is familiar. And yes, the artist that created the cover of the book (which she did as a response to the 6 hostages that were executed a few months ago) is suffering professional consequences, ie. less work.
Bought her book. I’ve followed her story.
Thanks for another great read. Interesting how you discovered Noga. I saw her post and knew that she was an artist that I needed to dial up in my playlist. More importantly, I was happy that she was using her voice to fight antisemitism. Pure artistry is beautiful to see and listen to. When hate discolors artistry, this is a sign that society is in distress.
Thank you for the introductions. Noga Erez is a true example of what art represents within the human experience. Also your writing on music is as evocative as contemplating a Marc Chagall painting.
“It is because we are Jews. It does not matter if we are loud or quiet. It is because we are Jews. I only captured part of the paragraph. The words stopped me because of the simple, uncomplicated truth. It is because we are Jews
Enjoying expanding my musical awareness. 2 months ago I never knew Artic Monkeys and Noga Erez. Thank you for that as well as your heartfelt writing.
חנוכה שמח נס גדול קרה שם
EB: Maccabee warrior 💙🤍
I was just wondering when my next post from Eve was going to come. Then this morning when I opened my email I was delighted.
Even though I didn’t have time to read it till afternoon, just knowing it was there made my day
Bought the song “Vandalist” because I liked it. Then thought “what the heck” and bought the whole album in solidarity. Made me feel the tiniest bit better
Great unerring extended rant - though additionally I would have liked to experience some of that 'Chassidic Electro'. Prob' ly already heard some of it but with no label on it.
The immense respect I have for Noga Erez (thanks for the introduction, btw) as an artist and human is inversely proportional to how utter a twat I find Sally Rooney to be.
I discovered Noga by chance on Instagram and got hooked on Views and Russo’s line “us Jews we don’t like to loose”. Eve and Noga, Bibi is another Trump fighting for all the Jews! It is another “Hero’s Journey”.
Hmmm. Not a word from the Irish Government about the Syrian mass graves.
I wonder why that is……
The haters' blacklisting and boycotts will push their way to the front of the line to get Israeli-developed cures for cancer. Hell, they'll forget all about their "ideals" the day Israeli scientists release a drug that regrows hair, eliminates wrinkles or increases d*ck size.
You know, it's hard to tell whether the discrimination has gotten a lot worse or if it was always there and now is not so sly. It used to be, they kept us out because the quality of our work sucked, even if it was fricking great, even if it was next league, and they would ensure we would be kept out by changing the definition of what was good to ensure we didn't fit in it.
And all those years, like 30 years when I was locked out of the art world for what, being too realistic? being too female? being too je ne sais quoi? I just hung my head, said, "OK, just not good enough, just not trendy enough, just not what they're looking for, they're not my audience, got to find my audience, got to get better, got to get better."
This year, I submitted a bunch of pieces to a prestigious international painting salon. I've been a finalist there four times, never won a prize. The only piece that didn't make semi-finalist was blatantly Zionist; the title was, "Jerusalem if I Forget You." When I posted that piece to Instagram right after I finished it, I got almost no likes. A couple of days ago, I varnished and framed it and posted an image of it hanging on my wall, only I didn't say the title. The crowd went wild, comments like, "Amazing!" or "Powerful!" or "I am blown away!" All kinds of colleagues I respect loved it, and what's interesting, they were seeing it for the first time. So yes, IG throttles, but it was and remains a great piece, why didn't it even make semifinalist in that big show, why has it been rejected every place I've submitted it?
When almost all the artists of the Barcelona atelier tried to cancel the blue chip realist David Kassan from showing at the prestigious venue, MEAM, and they spelled out it's because he, the evil Zionist, had the temerity to paint sympathetic images of Holocaust survivors, I knew I wasn't imagining things. I've shown at MEAM. Didn't get a prize, but then I'm just not their type.
Not my audience, not my people, that's OK, gotta find your people.
My mother used to say, whenever Jews didn't get the job or didn't get accepted into something, "Antisemitism," and I rolled my eyes and thought, "That is so facile, you can't just call all your failures antisemitism, you have to be better." Now I think she was partially right and I was partially right. Yes, antisemitism is *and was* ubiquitous, that sometimes in the past people were being kept out because they sucked but also sometimes because their names were wrong. And that this has and always will happen, and because of that we have to be twenty times better than the competition. And of course that means they will just change the goalposts, so that what was considered good is now considered shit and what used to be considered shit now is good, because that is what they do.
And when they keep us out, we start our own thing. We have always done this.
Separate but equal is never equal. But it's something.