Kabbalah of Bling - Yona Verwer

Canvasses shaped as large-scale “amulets”, hung on chains, and ready to wear, reminiscent of rappers’ bling.

These works comment on the appropriation of Kabbalah by pop icons.

Click on the images for full view

For mainstream America, Kabbalah is religion, Madonna style. Or it's the red string bracelet Britney Spears wore to ward off the evil eye. This type of Kabbalah is taken out of context to fit a New Age philosophy.

The Torah is a cornerstone of the Kabbalah.  The Baal Shemtov took this mystical Jewish tradition and brought it down to our level. Until that time, the Kabbalah was inaccessible to the average person.

For centuries amulets have been used as heavenly appeals for safety, health, wealth and power. The amulets often carried prayers and names to call upon for assistance. They gave the bearer "personal magic" to invoke a higher power to intercede. The Kabbalists used amulets and they are mentioned in the Mishna and Talmud. They were treated with complete seriousness as instruments for intervening in the natural course of events.

Hollywood Kabbalah is a watered down, altered version. Serious Kabbalists say that everything relies on context. It can't just be taken apart and reshuffled for easy consumption. New Age offers instant mystical knowledge, which can be purchased with magical objects such as red bracelets, holy water etc. Certain Kabbalah centers offer classes in which students for a large fee can acquire the “master” title.

Many contemporary individuals experience reality through the filters of prosperity or need. They rely on different types of talismans: worshipping guns, drugs, money for their personal and social well-being, denying the need for divine guidance. In this "spiritual materialism," spirituality is used for material gain or raising status. The use of spirituality to increase the power of the ego and identity prevent the seeker to open up to unknown mysteries, which are the goal of the mystical path.

These paintings reflect on a contemporary concept of self-reliance and the faux spirituality found in the worship of objects for their own value. As Ori Z. Soltes wrote: “Verwer’s Kabbalah of Bling series is intended to merge the deeply spiritual with the banal (“Kabbalah” and “Bling” should ordinarily be mutually contradictory)”.