THE 613

PAINTINGS BY
ARCHIE RAND

T he colors are vivid and the compositions kinetic, evoking comic books, film noir, pulp paperbacks and countless other artifacts of American history and folklore. In The 613, acclaimed Brooklyn artist Archie Rand interprets each of the Biblical commandments in a series of paintings that are at once whimsically lurid, broadly fantastical and subtly moving.

“I am the recipient of two traditions of American Jewish respect,” Rand explains. “That of the humorist and that of one fascinated by belief.” Both traditions intermix, collide and shine in The 613, a series five years in the making which originally exhibited in a Brooklyn warehouse for a single day. Together encompassing over 1,700 square feet of wall space, the collection has just been released as a full-color book by Penguin House’s Blue Rider Press.

Describing the project, Rand writes in his Introduction:

“There are Hasidic stories of children who whistle in synagogue because they don’t know how to pray or of soldiers who can only recite the alphabet, knowing that heaven will rearrange their spoken letters into prayers. The 613 is one of those whistles.”

Rand opens The 613 with the statement, “Judaism and art don’t mix well.” It is a point belied by the magnificence of his masterpiece, which brings an ancient Jewish list into the most freewheeling American vernacular. ■