BIRTH OF THE WORLD

EVERY Israeli artist faces an age-old dilemma.

Scripture forbids the creation of graven images.* but the compelling affirmation of the Talmud is "This is my God and I shall adorn Him." The solution for one of Israel's leading artists. Yehoshua Kovarsky, 49, was to move into his own kind of abstract symbolism, while holding to the philosophy that "an abstraction must have meaning for the viewer."

There is meaning in the most brilliantly realized of Kovarsky's works, a series of seven large (40 in. by 52 in.) canvases depicting the seven-day creation of the world (see color page). Shown last fall at Manhattan's Jewish Museum, the series will be on view for the last time in Manhattan next week at a reception given by Israeli Minister Mordecai Kidron. Then it will be shipped to Israel (where it will be shown later this year in the museums of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa), along with the stacks of canvases Kovarsky has completed during his five-year stay in New York.

With the aid of the titles, it is easy to comprehend most of the unfolding mystery of the Genesis theme as Kovarsky has conceived it, e.g.:

Third Day shows the grey dawn of the first landscape, with the first signs of life emerging from primordial chaos. Says Kovarsky: "This tree has the twist of a motherly woman. The cloud is the symbol of rain. The red seed, poppy seed, is a symbol of growth. The sun--light."

Fourth Day shows the molten sun and cooling moon pulling apart in the primary blue sky, while the first living things begin their incandescent dance of life. As for the dark cloud, Kovarsky suggests that it represents Lilith, the legendary predecessor of Eve, who has now become an evil spirit, roaming the desolate spaces.

Such Biblical and Talmudic images come naturally to Kovarsky, who was steeped in Jewish dogma and tradition during his childhood in Vilna, Lithuania, was sent to Palestine at 17. His first direct contact with the traditions of his forefathers came while he was working in a kibbutz (collective settlement). There he found a fellow laborer, a Yemenite Jew named Zachariah. who could describe such legendary objects as the ancient Tabernacle so vividly that young Yehoshua was able to draw them. After finishing his art education in Paris, Kovarsky went back to Israel, isolated himself to paint in the ancient city of Safad, cradle of Jewish mysticism and cabalism.

With a reputation already made in Israel, Kovarsky with his wife, a former Martha Graham dancer, decided to go to New York six years ago. Says Kovarsky: "We had been cut off from the art world for ten years. I felt the need of something refreshing. New York cooks very fast, and it cooks nicely. It has a good smell. What was yesterday is gone. Yesterday's car isn't enough. Today demands more. I will take a lot from here."

Planning to return to Israel with his paintings, and to take new root there, Kovarsky hopes to get new inspiration from the Yemenites. Says he: "These people have in their mind an image. My desire is to find a language that will express their imagination. To be in contact with these primitive people will be for me now like getting to a fresh spring."

*"Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"--Exodus 20:4.

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