Cyberangels Fly to San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas from Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Artist Mel Alexenberg launches cyberangels from Israel to thirty museums throughout the world as an homage to Rembrandt on the 350th anniversary of his death. These museums have Rembrandt inspired artworks by Alexenberg in their collections. At Global Tribute to Rembrandt are posts for each of the museums and texts on the impact of digital culture on art by the artist, former art professor at Columbia University, research fellow at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and professor at universities in Israel.

“He had a vision in a dream. A ladder was standing on the ground, its top reaching up towards heaven as Divine angels were going up and down on it.” (Genesis 28:12) Angels in Jacob’s dream go up from the Land of Israel and go down throughout the world.

Top image: Rembrandt inspired cyberangels arrive from Israel at the café at the San Antonio Museum of Art in time for lunch. The biblical words for angel and food are spelled with the same four Hebrew letters to teach that angels are spiritual messages arising from everyday life. Perhaps there is spiritual significance that museums that offer art also offer food.

Second image: The cyberangels begin their flight from the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, home of ancient Bible scrolls. They gain momentum by going up from the tallest building in Israel, home of Facebook’s R&D Center, until construction is completed for the 91 story Azrieli Spiral Tower in Tel Aviv with the shape of a Bible scroll.

Third image: Cyberangels spiral up from a NASA satellite image of the Land of Israel on a smartphone screen on Mel Alexenberg’s latest book Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media. They launch the book throughout the world from the artist/author’s studio in Israel. See praise for the book at Israel365.

Bottom image: Alexenberg’s serigraph “Joseph’s Brothers” in the collection of San Antonio Museum of Art.  It is based upon Rembrandt’s drawing “Joseph’s Brothers Requesting Benjamin from Their Father” in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam illustrating Genesis 43:1-14. 

Most of the artworks in the museum collections posted on this blog include angel images from Jacob’s dream in his youth when he left his parent’s home to embark on a journey to a distant land. This serigraph, however, shows Jacob at the end of his life struggling to protect his youngest son Benjamin not knowing that Benjamin’s brother Joseph was alive and the ruler of Egypt.