Closing View: The Matters

Ein Sof Gallery presents a final viewing of The Matters, an exhibition of  paintings, watercolours, and drawings by Michael Ajerman. The exhibition focuses on selected portraits of the artist’s grandmother, Sarah Pass and recent oil paintings.  Born in a small town close to Płońsk, Poland to Jewish parents.  Her mother owned a convenience store, while her father worked in deliveries.  Sarah would find herself imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp for all of her teen years. After liberation she would briefly live in Germany where she met Chaim Pass, whom she would marry. Then immigrating to the United States.  Sarah lived to the age of 95, passing away during the Covid Pandemic.  

Over the many sittings working from direct observation with Sarah,  Ajerman explored and searched for what portraiture could be for him.  Leading to surprising results in graphite pencil, colour pencil, and watercolor.  As a subject, Sarah’s face and physique was the voltage to catch a trace of an intense and complex presence along with deep emotional care.  Most importantly the work addresses the universal slippery passing of time.  Additionally time’s damage to things themselves is present, as some of these works were altered by the flood waters of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  

Accompanied with recent works which explore satellite themes.  One based on a painting owned by Ajerman’s second grandmother, Helen Schindler. The painting shows a mysterious man holding a sidur (prayer book), deep in thought while smoking a cigarette.   This paintings has been a presence in his life since adolescence.  Ajerman has germinated his own version reformed through a rabbit hole of ideas and references. His version relocates the protagonist to the vast space of the Coney Island boardwalk, populated by motley characters and cultures.    

Other works incorporate the animal motif, an important part of Ajerman’s work over the past few years as a symbol of energy. This show hopes to celebrate all cultures showing what is shared by all; family, sensation, feelings, and faces.