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 ascend from the Land of Israel and come down throughout the world.
The top image shows cyberangels arriving from Israel in time for a banquet at the Midwest Museum of American Art in Indiana. 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.
In the next image, cyberangels reach 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 with the shape of a Bible scroll.
The third image shows Rembrandt inspired cyberangels spiraling up from a NASA satellite image of the Land of Israel on a smartphone screen on the cover of the book Through a Bible Lens. The cyberangels go up from the Land of Israel and go down in America's midwest. See praise for the book at Israel365.
LOOKING BEYOND THE IMAGE
That the ladder in Jacob's dream is a ladder is the simple meaning.
That the ladder was spiral, like a spiral staircase, is the symbolic meaning. We arrive at the spiral shape of the ladder by noticing that the numerical value of the Hebrew words for “ladder” and for “spiral” are both 130. Creative play using numerical equivalents of Hebrew letters, a system called gematriah, can lead to fresh insights.
A more contemporary symbolic meaning links Jacob’s ladder to the DNA spiral ladder with rungs on which codes for all forms of life are written with four words: A-T, T-A, C-G, G-C. The SPR root of SPiRal is found in many ancient and modern languages. It is expressed in the words SPiRitual and inSPiRation, The hand-written scroll of the Five Books of Moses is called SePheR Torah. In contemporary Hebrew, SePheR means "book."
The ladder as a metaphor for Mount Sinai reaching up towards heaven from the ground below is the conceptual meaning. Jacob’s dream was a prophetic vision of angels ascending the mountain to bring the Torah down to earth. The numerical value of “Sinai” is also 130.
The significance of the ladder is symbolized in its deepest spiritual and inspirational meaning teaches that Jacob’s ladder is his body with his head in the clouds dreaming of what can be while his feet rest on the ground where dreams are realized. Every human being has the potential to connect heaven and earth by making spiritual energy flow through him into the everyday world.
(Based upon the chapter "Looking Beyond the Image" in Mel Alexenberg's latest book Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media.)
FIRST RESPONSE AFTER 33 YEARS
The Midwest Museum of American Art was the first of the thirty museums that have artworks from my "Digital Homage to Rembrandt" series in their collections to respond to my request to participate in the Global Tribute to Rembrandt. I was amazed to receive the response from the same Brian D. Byrn that wrote to me in 1986.
Below is correspondence from Brian D. Byrn, Director of Midwest Museum of American Art in 2019 and Curator of Exhibitions/Education in1986.
July 3, 2019. It is good to know you are actively working and reaching new heights of technological acclaim. I remember when you donated the work in 1986. It was a groundbreaking moment since it was the first computer-generated image acquired by MMAA. I have been Curator for 38 years and was recently appointed Director in 2017.
Your artwork is listed in our permanent collection as:
ALEXENBERG, Mel, (b. 1937- ),“Digitized Homage to Rembrandt: Day Angels”, 1986, computer generated lithograph, (86.36.00), Gift of Pratt Graphics Center, Brooklyn, NY
It was really good to hear from you. Brian D. Byrn, Director of MMAA
December 12, 1986. Thank you for your interest in our collection. Your lithograph will be a welcome addition to our growing contemporary print collection. I look forward to further information on the “High Tech/High Touch” exhibition in the future. Enclosed please find a gift agreement for the donation of "Digitized Homage to Rembrandt: Day Angels." By our records, we received the gift as of November 13,1986.
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