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Barbed Wire
Judith Peck
Judith Peck's paintings are portraits, but not in the usual sense. Sensitive close-up depictions of faces disclose less the personality of the sitter than an idea, a memory, a story. These small -- the largest is 18" x 24", most are 12" x 12" -- intimate oils, painted in oil on board or on linen, are archetypal in the way that Byzantine icons are, but come from the Jewish, rather than the Christian past. Each image represents a moment in the difficult, complex history of the Jewish people. In works such as "Barbed Wire" and "Memorials," faces appear against an indefinite ground, accompanied only by a object or two -- a single strand of barbed wire, a few lit candles -- that helps to identify one as a prisoner, another as a mourner.
Deborah Sokolove
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The artists who created the works of art shown
on this site own the
copyrights to them. send comments or questions about the gallery to
the curator at: © Copyright 2008 Wesley Theological Seminary
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Facing History:
Recent Paintings by Judith Peck 
These works are
based on the knowledge that history is written to promote a point
of view rather than expose the truth. Normally the account we
read is a contrivance authored by powerful forces attempting to
justify their own actions. This includes the perpetrators of the
greatest atrocities throughout history. It is the tales of the
survivors who are but innocent victims that enable us to knot
together a more complete and revealing factual portrayal. I paint
these witnesses. I try to show that the people who lived through
these monstrous actions were both average and extraordinary
people, in hopes that the present day viewer discovers a bond.
Whether it is in the painting of the wearer of the obligatory hat
of the twelfth century, or the witness to the reciting of the
Shema as last words, my paintings attempt to give voice to the
experiences of these witnesses who speak so powerfully across
time.
Curator's Statement
The twenty works
that comprise this show are a powerful example of the truth that
in the most particular is often found the most universal.
Although one feels that one could identify the sitter for each of
these portraits were one to meet them on the street, these
paintings speak even more profoundly about the binding power of
faith, of a people that continues to encounter God despite the
worst that is done to them by others. In a world filled with
nationalistic and religiously-based violence, the works of Judith
Peck remind us of the essential humanity in each person, and our
mutual connections to one another.