The Art of Eli Frucht


This collector's immersion into the rarified world of artistic visual experience and those who create it had rather surprising consequences for his own life. Starting with only a few lessons from profession artists, Frucht underwent a slow transformation from an appreciator of art to a creator. And while he cites a number of important artistic influences, Simon Gaon and Itshak Holtz to name only two, the truth of the matter is that Frucht has forged a clear and independent style in a handful years to become an original and highly competent self-taught artist. His work over the past four years is characterized by a strong sense of composition, a love of light and color as well as a passion for the pure physical pleasure of paint itself.


Underlying many of these remarkable works is Frucht's passion to paint expressions of yiddishkeit from the inside of the religious community as a veritable force of nature. But this is yiddishkeit deeply transformed by an artist's perspective, expressed in the uniquely artistic language of paint, color and light.
Synagogue interiors with congregants are in fact relatively rare in pious Jewish art. It is almost as if the actual act of prayer was too private to depict. Nonetheless, Frucht's Shomrei Shabbos Interior, manages to find a unique compromise. This famous storefront shul in Boro Park is known for its round-the-clock minyanim. His vision is similarly unique. As we make out the massive Aron HaKodesh, a man is about to start to lead the prayers. His simple, almost abstract depiction contrasts with the two figures on the left seated at tables. One seems to be reading a newspaper while another just stares towards us. Daylight streams in from the windows even as a mysterious dark skylight hovers over the main space. And yet in spite of all this visual complexity it is the Aron HaKodesh that dominates. Not only its rich ornamentation but the paroches with the brilliant embroidered golden menorah overwhelmingly dominates the scene. And therein lies the visual conundrum. The seven-branched menorah is so highly contrasted with the black velvet parachos that it seems to gain an independent three-dimensional identity, amazingly standing in for an actual menorah, alluding of course to the menorah in the Second Temple. This unexpected element suddenly transforms the local minyan mill into a gateway to the Holy of Holies, which of course it is.
Frucht finds wonder in every expression of Jewish observance. Artist in the Succah is a diminutive testament to homespun creativity. He depicts a local neighbor who is known for creating his own succah decorations year in and year out. We see him as he sits amidst his colorful creations punctuated by six rectangular plaques high up in the picture, representing the Ushpizin. Traditionally we welcome seven Ushpizin: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. But in Frucht's painting only six plaques are in the ordered place of honor. And so Frucht tells us that the subject of the painting, his Viznitzer chasid friend, is Abraham himself!

On a more mundane level the artist's depiction of Artist in his Studio touches a similarly personal note. The studio is crowded with paintings, some on easels and others lining the walls or leaning against one another. Humbly sitting in the lower left corner is the artist Itshak Holtz, master of his realm, gazing out at the viewer. And in a very important way, this is exactly what an artist and his artworks actually do. They gaze out and hope to engage the viewer in the art. By their color, light and intensity they invite us into their uniquely created little world. Everyone knows their world is but an illusion, a fiction of paint and canvas. But the hope is that the viewer will ponder what he or she sees and by these artistic means, reflect on the very real and wonderful world around us.
That world for Eli Frucht is the universe of yiddishkeit - Jewish life lived according to Torah and deeply cherished tradition. In the ultimate sense that is why he, only a few short years ago, was practically forced to become an artist. His sensitivity to yiddishkeit hand in hand with the visual expressions he had collected for years drove him to bring his own vision to Jewish art. By working hard and teaching himself how to make images of the things that he loved and felt passionate about, Eli Frucht has opened up his world of yiddishkeit for us in unexpected ways. In light of his images we can never look at a bakery, a shul, a succah or a Torah sage in quite the same way. Frucht's sensitive and unique images transform the things we thought we knew well. It is his gift to us.
The artist may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Posted in: Contemporary Jewish Art