Benjamin Kaplan

This work has its genesis in early 1990s New York—a time and place when the Yiddishkeit of old, the history and culture of the Eastern European shtetl, was being transformed. The Jewish culture of our great-grandparents and grandparents was being infused with “downtown” energy and edge. I was a university student in New York at that time. In the classroom, I became entranced by the work of 19th-century avant-garde Jewish innovator Y. L. Peretz, and when I left the classroom, I haunted the clubs to witness the contemporary avant-garde Jewish innovator John Zorn in action. It was an extraordinary time in New York, when the Yiddish language was being rediscovered, embraced, and physically pulled out of alley dumpsters. The music, literature, and visual art of our forefathers was undergoing a profound cultural shift, and what resulted was both familiar and thoroughly experimental.

Through this collection of work, I seek to not only join this continuum of innovators but to pay homage to artists whose work weaves together the threads of contemporary Yiddish and Jewish culture into new idioms and aesthetics. Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillows is a celebration of the Jewish spirit, inviting you to be part of this transformative experience, as we explore the evolving dynamics of Jewish culture and celebrate the resilience of a people who have journeyed through time and space, always seeking to express the beauty and complexity of our cultural history.

Foundry Art Center, 2023