Jay Ressler • Artist

Jay Ressler • Artist

Artistic Images and Sometimes Commentary

Amphisbaena: Islamophobia and Antisemitism

Islamaphobia and Antisemitism

In ancient Greek mythology Amphisbaena is a two-headed serpent. Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are two sides of an evil demon of hate lurking close to the surface. In the current political climate one pokes its head out tentatively at first, then ever more aggressively. Where Islamophobia is openly expressed one day, racist and anti-Semitic violence are sure to follow.
The two women in the foreground are from a scene in “Mooz-Lum,” in which the Muslim youth are about to be attacked by racist thugs. The young woman on right is preparing to surrender by removing her head scarf, echoing the background picture of eight-year old Jewish boy surrendering to Nazi storm troopers in the Warsaw ghetto of Poland, in 1943.
Also in the background is news footage of a “white power” demonstration led by Frazier Glenn Miller, whose camouflage jacket and head are partially visible. Miller is a Missouri Klan leader and FBI informant who gunned down three people at a Jewish Community Center in Lakeland, Kansas, in 2014. Inset in bottom foreground is security footage from inside the store which was the scene of anti-Semitic attack on a Parisian Kosher market by ISIS terrorists in 2015 in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. While Islamophobia has gained recent traction spurred on by demagoguery of a few American politicians and widespread intolerance in Europe in response to the refugee/immigration crisis and several highly publicized terrorist attacks., anti-Semitic violence, though still at historically low levels, has also been on the rise in the past couple of years according to the Anti-Defamation League. Anti-Semitism has manifested itself not just on the political right, but alarmingly also emerged among some student and left-wing activists in recent months.

Jay M. Ressler

Jay Ressler Composite Photography, Encaustic Art, and Oil Painting He is an outstanding location photographer and painter, with an eye that can capture the soul of a Havana back street as beautifully as the sip of a hungry hummingbird, often with compelling black and white images. Jay Ressler is best known for artistic expression that lives in layers between opposites. “I like to explore boundaries,” he explains. “Boundaries between consciousness and the unconscious, between reality and imagination, between certainty and skepticism.” He does this by compositing his own photography in multiple layers to produce stunningly original, interleaved images. Using Photoshop, other image manipulation software and a variety of digital effects, he paints one photographic layer on top of another. He takes advantage of textures he's captured along with an array of processes for manipulating light, contrast, and color to tell the story. “Distorting and reinterpreting the literal 'machine moments' captured by the camera is as old as the art of photography,” he insists. Jay occasionally extends his multi-layered approach to encaustic mixed media creations. Based on ancient techniques, the process begins with cooking his own recipes of beeswax and damar resin and applying this medium between the layers of photographic images, along with various pigmented compounds and materials to add color, texture and expression. Either way, the results are riveting. The viewer is drawn into an unfolding, dreamlike scene that might be heart-warming, haunting, gritty, poignant or magical. Sometimes, within the various layers, all of the above. The award-winning photographer/artist has many dimensions himself. He studied advanced digital photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and advanced encaustic techniques with leading instructors in the field. He worked as an underground coal miner, steelworker, machinist, labor and civil rights activist, copywriter and commercial printer. He has a BS in Psychology from Albright College.

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