A Tribeca gallery is showcasing art about antisemitism, including a Hitler-Kanye West portrait

“I was inspired because I had been tracking Kanye West and the antisemitic statements and rants he’s made for many years, and I’ve come to understand his reach culturally and how many people follow him and listen his music and how dangerous that is,” Heintze, 37, said about her piece. “The similarities between Hitler and Kanye West are both cultural and political.”

Yona Verwer, the founder and director of the Jewish Art Salon and one of the curators of the exhibit, first thought to put together the show after the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In the immediate aftermath, Verwer sent an email to the Jewish Art Salon network, which has many Israeli members, to offer support.

“They wrote back with heart-wrenching stories of what’s going on with their lives — and some of them sent art that they already had made that quickly,” she said.

Around the same time, another of the show’s curators, Judith Joseph, suggested an online exhibit of art made in the aftershock of Oct. 7. Verwer thought the idea could be even more expansive.

“As time went on, the situation started to change and things got crazy [in New York], too,” she said, citing the uptick in antisemitic incidents in New York and around the world. “I realized we need to do something about antisemitism in general. I wanted a real, brick-and-mortar exhibition.”

The two women then connected with Ronit Levin Delgado, an Israeli artist and a member of the Jewish Art Salon who was heavily involved with the hanging of “Kidnapped” posters around the city in the weeks following Oct. 7. Levin Delgado had just received a grant as part of a partnership between New York City’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and COJECO, a nonprofit that works with the Russian-speaking Jewish community, to create art about antisemitism. The three teamed up with the curators at 81 Leonard Gallery, Nancy Pantirer and Hannah Rothbard, to work on an exhibit together.

In early April, Verwer opened a call for submissions for artwork that grappled with antisemitism to her 500-member network in the Jewish Art Salon. The response, said Verwer, was “overwhelming.” Of the 50 who applied to feature in the exhibition, the curators whittled it down to 21 artists who range in age from 25 to 81 and come from eight states as well as from Israel.

“What you see is a small selection of what came in — there were so many people dying to participate in this,” Verwer said. “It’s a Jewish group and we’re here to support each other and create community — that’s what people want.”