Jac Lahav: The Saffron Thief

The Saffron Thief was an immersive installation by Jac Lahav, rooted in the artist's experience as a foster parent. Blue felt vines and leaves grew out of a large vessel painted with watchful evil eyes and spread across the gallery, shelves of small blue vessels lined one wall, a site-specific wall drawing covered another, and abstract canvases were threaded with powdered saffron and 24k gold leaf. Long known for figurative portrait series such as 48 Jews and The Great Americans, Lahav turned to abstraction around 2019, and here that language was tied closely to material and surface.

Lahav was approved as a foster parent in 2021, a decision that has energized their practice. Of foster care, the artist says, "This is hard, emotional, and wonderful labor all at once and I'm constantly shocked at the heart's ability to generate love and gain strength." During the pandemic Lahav also rediscovered a passion for plants, and the branching vines carry a lesson taken from them: a life does not have to climb like a ladder, and can wander, double back and take detours.

The title points to the saffron crocus. Saffron rivals gold in cost per ounce because its fine strands are picked by hand from an intensely purple flower, and its mood-lifting effects were noted in ancient times. Lahav used that rarity, labor and giddiness as allusions to parenting. The saffron, the gold and the pervasive blue also recall childhood visits to the artist's grandmother's house on the Mediterranean, a home full of plants, evil eyes and fragrant spices.

Lahav is an advocate for foster care in Connecticut. To learn more about fostering in New York City, contact the WISH Line at 877-676-WISH (9474).