G*d. Reflections between Heaven and Earth at the Vienna Jewish Museum
My sculpted painting From Something to Nothing will be exhibited at the G*D exhibition at the Jewish Museum Vienna, April 2 - October 5, 2025.
Inspired by the discourse of Jewish Mysticism my artwork explores the boundaries of form, faith, and formlessness.
Left: R.B. Kitaj - God’s Back. Right: Yona Verwer - From Something to Nothing
As part of an exhibition that mixes historical objets with contemporary art, featuring artists like Anselm Kiefer, R. B. Kitaj, Helene Aylon, Nir Hod, Chagall, Rodin, and Motherwell, this piece stands as a contemporary mystical counterpoint, offering a tactile theology of emptiness and potential.
From Something To Nothing explores the Kabbalistic concept of yesh me-ayin—creation from something (yesh) to Divine nothingness (ayin).
Ayin is the ultimate reality underlying all things; nothing possesses a separate, independent existence. In the painting, the rough, earthy surface—symbolizing the material world —splits open to reveal another image beneath. At the center of this hidden layer is the divine nothingness.
To evoke a sense of majesty within Creation, I rendered the surface in golden metallic tones. The cracks, resembling tectonic plates, suggest that rupture and brokenness are not just inevitable—they are essential for the emergence of something new.
This work poses the question: what does it mean to begin? It is not merely about the creating of the world, but about the human struggle with origin, loss, and presence.
The curators speak about the exhibition.
“From Something to Nothing” is briefly shown a the 31 second mark. In German with English translation available.
One Exhibition, Many Questions "G*D. Reflections Between Heaven and Earth” explores perhaps the greatest mystery in human history: Who or what is G*tt? In seven thematically designed rooms, historical ritual objects meet contemporary artworks, creating a sensory and aesthetic dialogue about divine presence, imagination, and traces.
G*d: for some He/She is the origin of all being, for others a grand illusion. God brings people together and also divides them. But who or what is God anyway? The exhibition G*d. Reflections between Heaven and Earth approaches the phenomenon in seven questions that often have more than just a religious answer.
Starting from Jewish perceptions of God from biblical times to our individualized, western present, the exhibition shows a wide range of positions – artistic examinations as well as outstanding religious objects. Contemporary art with its personal approaches, and historical ritual objects that are an expression of a collective religious relationship, communicate in a dialogue that, besides religious tradition, also addresses abstract topics. The field of tension between religion and science, the question of divine providence, and the free will of humans open a further dimension in the exhibition.
Visitors are invited to rediscover God through an interplay of aesthetics and sensuality: human projections and existential hopes become tangible, visible, and audible. So, is there a God? Or a Goddess? The Shoah, religious criticism, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence question and challenge the traditional image of God.
Yona Verwer, From Something to Nothing, 2023, Acrylic on Sculpted Canvas, 27 × 16 inches
The exhibition G*d. Reflections between heaven and earth will accompany the 130th anniversary of the Jewish Museum Vienna in 2025. Opened in 1895, it is the world’s first Jewish museum. Exceptional objects from the outstanding collection of the first Jewish museum, as well as loans from important national and international collections, are on public display for the first time.
Curators: Domagoj Akrap, Daniela Schmid
Dorotheergasse 11, Wien
Sun - Fri 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed on Saturdays