Jew York comes to New York and features a sexy Jewish calendar pin-up

174With a name like “Jew York” and an exhibition that includes a calendar of a half naked Jewish girl blowing the shofar,  this summer’s new “group” show which features over 50 artists,  is one not to be missed.

“Jew York,” which opens on June 20th and runs until July 26th, seeks to display American Jewish artists in their natural habitat–namely the Lower East Side and Chelsea. The show will take place at Chelsea’s Zach Feuer Gallery and UNTITLED Gallery on the Lower East Side.

The summer exhibition will include work from renown artists such as Diane Arbus, Roy Lichenstein and Leon Golub, among over 50 other contemporary artists. 

One piece done by Jamie Sneider called “The Year of the Jewish Woman,” is a pin-up calendar from 2009 which features Sneider in prurient poses accompanied by traditional Jewish objects such as a dreidel and food such as challah. The calendar was originally sold on her blog, and she used the photographs for her application to graduate studies at the School of Visual Arts. 

Gallerist quoted Ms. Sneider, ““Nobody thinks of a Jewish calendar,” Ms. Sneider said on the phone. “You only see them at the funeral home or the temple. I was researching bikini culture, and I was thinking if there was ever a Jewish Playboy cover. There were only maybe one or two.””

It’s nice to see Ms. Sneider achieving the dream for of all the Jewish women who feel they’re too modest for Playboy.

SPONSORED TRIBUTES: Click here to read appreciations of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg. 

Jillian Scheinfeld Jillian Scheinfeld is a JTA intern.