Sasha Okun: Suspends… then closes

What can I say other than I continue to be an unabashed fan of the man, Sasha Okun, and his restrained yet rigorous artwork. I was a student of his in my earlier years and my admiration only grew over time. Unfortunately, he is no more, may his memory be blessed and justifiably, the Jerusalem Print Workshop saw to it that a swan song in the form of a posthumous exhibit gave us another opportunity to see his art and housed where he pondered and considered his next steps.

Sasha Okun, (12 May 1949 – 6 November 2025) was a frequent printmaker but best known as a brilliant painter in his somewhat anachronistic style based on classic Baroque traditions. He was born in the Soviet Union, lived in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), studied art, and was active in the non-conformist art scene. He completed his Masters in 1971, taught and moved to Israel in 1979. For some forty years, he taught drawing as a senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.

This exhibit, called “Sasha Okun: Between Line and Suspension,” concentrates on Okun’s process of starting a body of work and the various stages he took his works through until they were deemed closer to where they needed to become. I was very happy to view this work, sort of a sounding of taps after a long and varied career.

Of particular interest to Okun was the process of aging and the knowledge that death was ever approaching. For those who are interested in learning more about him and getting a wider view of his world, I suggest watching the short film made by The Jerusalem Artists’ House called “Sequences” and it can be found here  (in Hebrew).

Curator Arik Kilemnik adds, he had “hundreds of trial prints, and a continuous process of material, formal, and spiritual exploration were created – an exploration that did not necessarily seek to arrive at a ‘finished work,’ but rather to linger, dwell, and listen to what the image itself sought to become.”

There were other exhibits displayed at the same venue showing examples of artists’ books, some outstanding and also a very fine exhibit by Naftali Kakusin, but nothing took my breath away quite like this show. He was one of a kind, and one can only wish to have had more time to see enjoy these and ot works.

In suspense to view these works settle where they may, each as is meant to be.

The Jerusalem Print Workshop is closing “Sasha Okun: Between Line and Suspension” on November 16, 2026.

–

https://jerusalemprintworkshop.org/