A solo show of paintings based on the new translation of the Zohar by Daniel Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, at the Mizel Art and Culture Center (MACC) in Denver, Co. This exhibition features a group of paintings that evolved from deep engagement with the Zohar, a collection of texts widely considered to be the most important work of Kabbalah. The exhibit opens two weeks after the close of a major show at Yeshiva University Museum, New York, in which a different selection from the Zohar works was on display. The Zohar series is a work in progress that began in 2008. Click here to see the completed works. Click here for the artist's statement.

Michael Hafftka has been named a notable alumnus of DeWitt Clinton High School in The New York Times August 04, 2009 http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/dewitt-clintons-remarkable-alumni/?hp
Other notable alumni in the arts include:
H. Romare Bearden 1928, Alfred Leslie 1945, Barnett Newman 1923, Richard Avedon 1941, Aaron Siskind 1921, Will Eisner 1936 (The Spirit Creator), Bob Kane 1934 (Batman Creator), Stan Lee 1939 (Spiderman, Hulk Creator), Alvin Schwartz 1934 (Superman, Batman), Roy Neuberger 1921, Alan Kaufman 1971, and James Baldwin 1942

The New York Times article reported on the publication of  “The Castle on the Parkway: The Story of New York City’s DeWitt Clinton High School and its Extraordinary Influence on American Life.” Gerard J. Pelisson and James A. Garvey III, former Clinton teachers, embarked on an exhaustively researched telling of the Clinton story, from its establishment in 1897 in Midtown to its contemporary status as one of the largest public schools in the Bronx. But most important, the book is a tribute to the outstanding, often unsung alumni. There are a number of entries in the book about Michael Hafftka and references to his book Conscious/Unconscious. The Castle on the Parkway is available at www.castleontheparkway.com

A major show of recent work at Yeshiva University Museum (YUM), 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, March 22-August 30, 2009. The show includes a major large painting from 1985 called The Hill (Jerusalem), which is in the permanent collection of YUM. Also included in the show are 22 watercolors of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph-Bet, and a selection of 22 watercolors from a work in progress based on the new translation of the Zohar, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, by Daniel C. Matt, which is being published by Stanford University Press. In addition to the large painting in the museum's collection and the watercolors, the exhibit includes a few of Hafftka's most recent paintings from 2007 and 2008. This show is the first major solo show of Michael Hafftka in New York City since his show at the Aberbach Fine Art gallery in the late 90's and 4 years since his retrospective of large oil paintings at the Housatonic Museum in Bridgeport, Ct. Click here for the artist's statements REVIEW in The Jewish Press

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A solo show of Hafftka at the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture in Denver, Colorado, November 2009 to January 2010.

Curated by Simon Zalkind

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Two books from Six Gallery Press

Circular Stairs, Distress in the Mirrors Poems by Peter Klappert art by Michael Hafftka publisher Six Gallery Press Buy at Amazon

West Virgina Fiction by Che Elias art by Michael Hafftka publisher Six Gallery Press Buy at Amazon

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The Terror of Loch Ness reviewed at MUNGBEING.COM

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Wait, 60"x40" oil on canvas, 2006, was added to the permanent collection of Central High School, Philadelphia, PA, and is on permanent display.

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Conscious/Unconscious reviewed at The Review of Contemporary Fiction

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Aleph-Bet in the national newspaper, The Jewish Daily Forward, on the first page of the Arts section and on the homepage online. View article here.

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The Yeshiva University Museum acquired “The Hill (Jerusalem)", a major 1985 painting, for their permanent collection. The painting had been previously exhibited at the Jewish Museum in NY in the 1986 show Jewish Themes and was reproduced in their catalogue with the following text written by the curator of the Jewish Museum, Susan Tumarkin Goodman:

"In The Hill (Jerusalem) Michael Hafftka has created a turbulent work inspired by the words of Ezekiel. As the son of Holocaust survivors, the artist found a contemporary metaphoric resonance in this passage that expresses God’s anger towards those who have fallen into the sin of idol worship. The various divine punishments are vividly expressed by Hafftka through energetic brush strokes and gestural surfaces that inform his multilayered and complex biblical interpretation with emotional fervor. In this scene of intense drama, with its tormented frenzied figures, Hafftka evokes the power of divine wrath with a raw intensity that is both disturbing and stimulating."

To see a larger image click here.
The painting measures 78 inches high and 224 inches wide.

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Marc Lowe reviews Conscious/Unconscious in The Mad Hatter Review

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January 2008 A Heaven Of Others novel by Joshua Cohen art by Michael Hafftka publisher Starcherone Books Buy at Amazon

Fall 2007 The Terror of Loch Ness fiction by Che Elias art by Michael Hafftka publisher Six Gallery Press Buy at Amazon

Fall 2007 Aleph-Bet, An Alphabet For The Perplexed text by Joshua Cohen art by Michael Hafftka publisher Six Gallery Press Buy at Amazon

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Now available at Amazon Conscious/Unconscious fiction by Michael Hafftka with 27 drawings. Publisher: Six Gallery Press, Pittsburgh, PA Favorable mention at NextBook.org Reviewed on Amazon by Ann Rudy May 4, 2007 Reviewed at the Forward Jun 06, 2007

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Brussels, Belgium
Three large paintings will be included in a show at the Musee des Beaux-Arts d'Ixelles. The show will be on view from October 18, 2006 to January 10, 2007 and will travel to Arizona State University Art Museum in March 2007.
Please click on the images to enlarge.

Teri Johnson ©1985 78"x62" o/c, coll. S. Janssen			Red Road ©1985 78"x62" o/c, coll. S. Janssen
					Incubus & Succubus ©1988 78"x62" o/c, coll. S. Janssen

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New York, NY
Published by Fugue State Press: Stet by James Chapman, book cover by Michael Hafftka.

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Tempe, AZ
The ASU Art Museum, part of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University, has just received a gift of two encaustic paintings by Hafftka from the collector Stephane Jansen, a resident of Arizona. The ASU, named "the single most impressive venue for contemporary art in Arizona" by Art in America magazine, now has a total of three encaustic paintings by Hafftka.

	Untitled ©1988 24"x19" encaustic on panel
		Secrect ©1988 58"x48" encaustic on panel

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Washington, DC
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, aquires a 1985 set of etchings by Hafftka named Overtones.
To view the set click here.

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Art New England Review by Steve Starger

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Tempe, Arizona
The Arizona State Univeristy Art Museum located in Tempe, AZ, has recently aquired through a generous donation from Stephane Janssen of Scottsdale, a painting by Michael Hafftka called "Fat Man". The painting is one of six encaustic panels created by the artist in 1988.

Port. of John Caldwell ©1993oil on canvas 16"x14"		Fat Man ©1988 58"x48" encaustic on panel

Pittsburg, PA
The Carnegie Museum of Art acquired this month a portrait of John Caldwell by the artist Michael Hafftka.
John Caldwell (1941-1993) served as the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Carnegie from 1983 to 1989. Richard Armstrong, the Director at the Carnegie Museum, knew and worked with John Caldwell and thus can appreciate the significance of the portrait to the history of the museum. As a Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art for more than a decade during the eighties, Mr. Armstrong also knows the work of Michael Hafftka and has followed his career over the years.
Caldwell discovered Hafftka’s work shortly before joining the Carnegie. Several years later under Caldwell’s directive, the Carnegie bought a large painting by Hafftka for the Museum’s permanent collection. Caldwell wrote extensively about Hafftka’s work and a friendship between the two ensued.
The painting was purchased from Michael Hafftka in Brooklyn by Ms. Laura Hoptman, Curator of Contemporary Art, under the directive of Mr. Armstrong.
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