Connecticut Jewish Ledger

Artist Alan Falk paints what can best be described as artistic midrash.

Falks work includes paintings depicting the biblical characters of Adam, Abraham and Hagar and the creation story. His wide-ranging Jewish art also depicts holiday scenes, acts of human kindness, peace, and Chaim Potok.

But Falks work is not limited to painting-he is a fine artist and graphic artist, who also writes poetry and plays in a klezmer band, Nefesh Klezmer Band.

A resident of Huntington (a suburb of Shelton) Falk describes himself as an artist in transition.

Born in Manchester, England he spent many years exhibiting at London galleries and teaching painting, drawing and printmaking. Following a series of regular visits to the United States, Falk was influenced by the American scene.

I was doing American paintings while living in England, so I decided to come to America.

When Falk arrived in the United States in 1974, his art was mainly large figurative paintings of people in public places (i.e. beaches and pools) which focused on the lack of connection between people.

While Falk reports that he became established very quickly and had his art displayed in several galleries, he soon wanted to move on and grow.

This meant exploring Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico where he fell in love with the desert.

I became interested in the relationship of space, nature, the universe, mortality. A spiritual element came into my work, he said. And I stop painting human figures.

While he continued to paint, Falk supported himself through work as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer n some of his work included book covers for a Dick Francis best-seller and for the school edition of Huckleberry Finn.

Upon moving to Connecticut, Falk began integrating his newly acquired computer skills into his art. Falk worked in digital art for seven years, and he served as art director for a holographic company in Bridgeport.

While Falks digital art soon began to include his own poetry, it was still devoid of Jewish content.

When I got married to Eliana Falk (communications director of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven), she had started on her own spiritual journey, Alan explained. Slowly, my world became involved in the Jewish journey, too. I abandoned digital art and went back to painting.

Falks work, which may be viewed at www.alanfalk.com, often looks at the Bible and religious thought as a moral and ethical guide and as a mirror in which to reflect and make decisions about how to live. Images include the yetzer hatov and yetzer harah (good and bad impulses), the choices faced by Adam in the garden of Eden, and Abrahams ultimate decision in the Akedah (binding of Isaac) story.

My Abraham study became my own midrash - Abraham and the angel are the same person.

Falk has also designed a series of posters celebrating prominent Jewish Americans in various fields with a connection to New Haven. And he has created a calendar as part of Celebrate 350 - Celebrate Jewish Life in New Haven. He has created the JCC of New Haven’s annual calendar for past two years, and he is working on a 10-poster exhibition for the Jewish Historical Society of New Haven which celebrates Jewish American contributions to New Haven.

In the last three years, my work has become very Jewish oriented - but it is a contemporary view of the world through Jewish eyes, Falk said. My work is all about contemporary issues through Jewish thought and ideas.

His work is available for viewing at http://www.alanfalk.com