Robert Aronson: Ba Midbar – In the Desert

Robert Aronson: Ba Midbar – In the Desert
On view: February 5 – 26, 2023
Artist Reception: Saturday, February 11, 6 - 8pm during the Second Saturday Gallery Walk
Joshua Tree Art Gallery: 61607 29 Palms Hwy, Suite B, Joshua Tree, CA
Gallery hours: Fridays 11am - 2pm, Saturdays 9am - 3pm and Sundays 12 - 3pm

Joshua Tree Art Gallery hosts the solo exhibition Ba Midbar – In the Desert, featuring paintings, drawings and prints created by Robert Aronson.

Robert Aronson has been creating art for over fifty years. Spending much of his time as a print maker after studying the medium in high school, college and throughout the rest of his life working with master printers in Detroit. Unable to pause his artistic endeavors Aronson has turned to other mediums when a printing press isn’t available.

In June of 2020, Robert and his wife Lisa moved into a home they built in Yucca Valley. Aronson comments on this transition and how he didn’t lose his drive to create art. “Out here in the desert I do not have an intaglio press, so out of desperation I ordered paints, canvas and brushes and began painting. I began to explore bright colors which I had not done before when making etchings. I found my inspiration in the shapes and colors of the high desert, particularly in the spring. I was a midwestern boy in a completely new world, and I began exploring this new universe in my paintings.”

Aronson titled this exhibition Ba Midbar, which is Hebrew for "In the Desert." These words refer to the forty years during which the Jewish people wandered in the desert before entering the Promised Land. The desert was barren and seemingly lifeless, but it was full of miracles. It was during these
years in the desert that the Jewish people were closest to G-d's presence.

Dedicated to community service and his faith Aronson reflects “Similarly, in my new desert home I feel closer to my own spiritual self. It is this feeling which I am learning to express through this new medium of oil on canvas. I hope to continue this exploration, this sense of spiritual wandering, in our new home in the Desert.”

Aronson first began to study Printmaking at Nicolet High School in Milwaukee, in 1968. He continued his studies at Carnegie-Mellon University and received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975. Aronson has spent over 45 years working in the field of Jewish community organizations and philanthropic development spending most of his career in senior leadership roles at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. During his 30 years in Detroit, Arson continued his artistic passion by working in print studios at the Center for Creative Studies and Wayne State University.

Artist website: https://robertaronsonfineart.com