EVIL: A MATTER OF INTENT Opens April 20

“Evil is a deliberate action or inaction - the violation of our common humanity.” These artists show how evil manifests in many forms including genocide, torture, and fear of the other

Boy with a Gun: Saturday Night Special

by Grace Graupe-Pillard

The artist's powerful work calls attention to the urgent need for gun control laws.

In this painting, she suggests that a child's game can become adult gun violence. What will it take to thwart the gun industry and stop the killing?

ARTISTS CONFRONT THE MANY FACES OF INHUMANITY

"Evil: A Matter of Intent" features the work of thirty-five contemporary and modern artists addressing the many faces of inhumanity.

This pertinent group show features artists hailing from around the world with diverse backgrounds, including Helene Aylon, Judith Glickman Lauder, Grace Graupe-Pillard, William Sharp, Tamar Hirschl, John Lawson, Paul Margolis, Mark Podwal, Trix Rosen, and Arthur Szyk.

On loan from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, this exhibition was curated by Laura Kruger and features more than seventy artworks that span from 1940 to the present, including mixed media paintings, works on paper, photography and sculptural works. Presented in Miami Beach by the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, the exhibition opens to the public on Thursday, April 20 and is on view through October 1. Located at 301 Washington Avenue, in the heart of South Beach's Art Deco District, the museum is part of Florida International University.

"This exhibition is timely and powerful . . . issues we are all confronting now, during these precarious times"

As the title reminds us during these precarious times, acts of evil are premeditated and intentional, motivated by selfishness and the desire to gain at the expense of others.

“Evil is not a cosmic accident, it does not just happen,” curator Laura Kruger said. “Evil is a deliberate action or inaction. Evil is the violation of our common humanity.”

The work of these artists shows how evil manifests in many forms including genocide, torture, slavery and fear of “the other.”

These are artists who refuse to remain silent, demonstrating how evil is reinforced by indifference, bullying, cruelty and denial

The artists in "Evil: A Matter of Intent" demonstrate how evil is reinforced by indifference, bullying, cruelty and denial.

Terrorist acts, murder, rape, destruction of culture and knowledge, pogroms, obliteration of cultural heritage, child abuse, poisoning of the earth and water, and murder are rampant and unceasing.

These are artists who refuse to remain silent despite forces of intimidation or popular beliefs.

Their voices and visions are direct and distinct, forever asking the viewer what he or she would do if placed in similar situations depicted in these works of art.

Terrorist acts, murder, rape, obliteration of cultural heritage, and the poisoning of the earth and water are rampant today and unceasing

Tamar Hirschl builds on her memories of her childhood during the Holocaust in a Nazi detention camp to highlight the misery and destruction that accompany imperialistic and genocidal ventures. 

Her work comments on the evil that continues to divide and destroy human connections. 

She has been featured in solo exhibitions in New York, Europe and Israel.
"I focus on raising awareness of women’s rights and speaking out for those who cannot speak out for or protect themselves, including animals and nature. I hope that my work will help end the cycle of abuse that has gone on for so long, and support the autonomy of all living creatures," Hirschl said.

Mark Podwal is well known for his drawings in the New York Time’s op-ed page. 

His work has been engraved on a Congressional Gold Medal, and is also featured in a series of decorative plates at the Metropolitan Museum.

Helene Aylon’s career includes her Process Art in the 1970’s, anti-nuclear art in the 80’s and her later G-D Project that spanned two decades. 

Her work can be found in collections around the world including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Whitney Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

In the mid-sixties, she painted her iconic 16-foot mural for the synagogue library at JFK airport.

Grace Graupe-Pillard’s work was featured in the recent exhibition at New York’s Chaim + Reid Gallery (The Female Gaze: Women Look at Men), and has also shown at the Aldrich Museum, the National Academy Museum and the Bass Museum. 

In her Boy with a Gun series in this exhibition, silhouette figures are shown as containers housing images of gang warfare and capital punishment.

Shows how evil manifests in many forms including genocide, torture, slavery and fear of 'the other'

View the exhibition catalog at this link. 

"This exhibition is timely and powerful,” Susan Gladstone, the Acting Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, said. “These artists tackle issues we are all confronting right now, at this juncture in history. They bring evil to light from a multitude of shadowy angles, capturing historical events and expressing outrage. They leave us, the viewers, to our own responses - and possibly to our own personal calls to action."

The exhibition remains on view through Oct. 1 in Miami Beach. The artists in this exhibition are: Andi Arnowitz · Helene Aylon · Debra Band · Riva Bell · · Rosalyn A. Engelman · Larry S. Frankel · Grace Graupe-Pillard · Barbara Green · Debbie Teicholz Guedalia · Carol Hamoy · Tamar Hirschl · Elizabeth Langer · Judith Glickman Lauder · John Lawson · Margalit Mannor · Elizabeth Langer · Ruben Malayn · Paul Margolis · Richard McBee · Leonard Meiselman · David Newman ·Jacqueline Nicholls · Hedy Pagremanski · Mark Podwal · Faith Ringold · Trix Rosen · Marilyn R. Rosenberg · Ben Shahn · William Sharp · Linda Soberman · Arthur Szyk · David Wander · Grace Bakst Wapner · Paul Weissman.