Urban Talismans
Large-scale canvas artworks shaped as amulets, suspended on chains and designed to be worn like oversized jewelry, echoing rappers' bling. These pieces critique the cultural appropriation of ancient mystical symbols by pop celebrities.
For mainstream America, Kabbalah is a watered down, altered version taken out of context to fit a New Age philosophy.
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.
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, to increase the power of the ego and identity. It prevents 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)”.