Artist Gideon Bok has taken a dramatic departure from his usual studio paintings to address one of today's most controversial political issues in his current exhibition at the Interchurch Center in Manhattan. The show, titled "Gideon Bok: Gaza and Other Paintings," features his provocative reinterpretation of Pablo Picasso's famous anti-war masterpiece "Guernica" (1937), reimagined as a response to Israel's ongoing military actions in Palestine.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Bok's "Gaza" (2025), which recreates Picasso's monumental work on an unstretched canvas using blue and white colors - the same colors found in Israel's flag. This bold artistic choice deliberately connects the 1937 systematic aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town of Guernica by German and Italian forces to what the artist views as Israel's current actions in Gaza. The large-scale painting is prominently displayed on the marble wall that greets visitors entering the Interchurch Center.
Bok's political awakening represents a significant shift for an artist who has spent years primarily focusing on intimate depictions of his various studios. The exhibition includes paintings of studios where Bok has worked from 2004 to the present, showcasing his characteristic attention to detail and jewel-like color palettes. These studio works demonstrate a fascinating tension between three-dimensional receding spaces and two-dimensional objects, such as paintings on distant walls.
The show also features Bok's interpretation of Artemisia Gentileschi's "Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes" (1624), which underscores his growing preoccupation with themes of violence and resistance. Additionally, the exhibition includes several paintings of record covers - another recurring subject in Bok's work - featuring albums by artists ranging from Bob Dylan and David Bowie to Sparklehorse and PJ Harvey. These square panels show records tilting diagonally in space, as if lying casually on a table or floor.
One particularly striking work, "Fading Mom" (2020), demonstrates Bok's innovative approach to capturing time's passage by showing his mother's head in different positions within a single painting. This technique reflects the artist's understanding that painting cannot stop time but can only acknowledge our constantly changing world. The work exemplifies how Bok uses bright, imagined colors within naturalistic settings while depicting subjects from multiple angles.
By including his Gaza works alongside his more traditional studio paintings and album cover studies, Bok challenges conventional boundaries between studio artist and activist. The exhibition raises important questions about whether artists must choose between these roles or can successfully embody both. His Gaza paintings force viewers to confront the relationship between art-making and political engagement in contemporary society.
The three distinct groups of works - studio paintings, political pieces, and album covers - reveal an artist passionately preserving and honoring what matters most in his life. With the Gaza series, Bok has significantly expanded the range of human experience to which he responds artistically. This evolution from his previously inward-looking studio images, which seemed closed off from the outside world, suggests a more engaged and politically conscious direction for his future work.
"Gideon Bok: Gaza and Other Paintings" continues at the Interchurch Center, located at 475 Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, through November 14. The exhibition has been curated by Steven Harvey in collaboration with Jennifer Roberts, presenting a comprehensive view of an artist grappling with both personal artistic vision and urgent political realities.
