The quest to find my great-grandfather’s lost art means I spend a great deal of time focusing on what is missing from the original collection and searching for clues from the past rather than reflecting on what I know about the pieces my family already has. This collaborative video project with Paige Dansinger enables me to pause and gaze inward – to take a longer look at the pieces we already have and to reflect on what each of the pieces shows and teaches us about his body of work.
Although the Moshe Rynecki story begins with an artist whose life and work belong squarely in the 20th century, today the #mrynecki story is also very much a contemporary one. Paige (who is in Minneapolis) and I met on Twitter. We have never met in person (I live in California) but talked on the phone and used email, Facebook, and Twitter to collaborate. This project is the result of a social media connection and friendship that gave me the opportunity to curate and explore an element of my great-grandfather’s work – representations of women – that otherwise sometimes gets lost in the shadow of his portrayal of men in religious study.
I love that this project breathes new life into my great-grandfather’s art and leads me to new discoveries.
[Note: Below the video are the six images Paige paints in the video.]
