JACOB’S LADDER
JACOB’S LADDER Rich ard Edelman
Photography & Ima ges by Ryan Haine y Text by Rich ard Edelman
Original Edition Copyright Š 2014 Edelman Studios Copyright for the photographs Š Ryan Haine y
All Rights Reserved No Part of this publication ma y be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, el ectronic or mech anical, including photocopy, recording or any other information stora ge and retrieval s ystem, without prior permission in writing from publisher.
Milwaukee, WI 2014
Rich ard Edelman’s Dream Ladder: The Realization
A YOUNG MAN EIGHT FEET TALL
CLIMBS IN RESTLESS DREAMS
DRIVEN BY UNRESOLVED CONFLICTS
DEFYING GRAVITY
Postf ac e By Jody Hirsh The foundation of Richard Edelman’s “Jacob’s Ladder” is the oft-told tale of Jacob’s dream of a ladder stretching to heaven. In the Biblical account, Jacob, who has cheated his brother has fled in fear of his life. We are told:
And Jacob went out . . . and he lighted upon the place and tarried there all night, because the sun was set . . . . And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood beside him, and said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. . . . And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.’ And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.’ And he was afraid, and said: ‘How full of awe is this place!’ Genesis, chapter 28
Generations of readers religious and non-religious alike have been intrigued by this mysterious tale. What was that place? Where was it? What were those angels? What did they look like? Why did the angels ascend first and descend second and not the other way around – presumably they were coming from heaven? What did it mean that the Lord stood beside him – isn’t the Biblical notion of God invisible, and isn’t God everywhere? What had God promised him that he would honor his promise? Why was Jacob afraid? And what was the power of his sudden understanding that God was in that space, yet he didn’t know it? It is an archetypical scene of awe and mystery.
The Biblical story, of course, is the particular story of a particular family or tribe and their particular covenant with the Hebrew God. It is not the particular, however, but the universal that has captured the imagination of the world. It is a story about anxiety, about mortality, about fear, about survival, about imagination, and about vision.
Richard Edelman’s recasting of the story, however, thrusts the tale entirely into the realm of the universal. There is no history. There is no God. There are no angels. There is just a naked man climbing a ladder. And yet, the narrative is transformed into the realm of the universal and the personal. The ladder is a rope ladder – fluid, ominous, and should be unstable. Yes, of course, it is cast bronze and stands as though on its own, but the image is of rope, coiled, and somehow magically reaching toward heaven with no support. Contrary to the Biblical story itself, it is not the angels that climb and descend the ladder, but Jacob himself. Jacob is naked. Vulnerable. Attempting to reach for the higher rungs of the ladder. He is looking upward in awe toward the unknown. He is determined. Yet the rope tangles around his ankles, perhaps pulling him back.
Richard Edelman has created a narrative about human vulnerability, human struggle and human aspiration. Yes, it is a comment casting a human light on the iconic story of Jacob who will become one of the three patriarchs of the Hebrew Bible. However Edelman’s Jacob is not the figure we associate with a Biblical figure. It is a muscular Jacob . . . the artist has paid particular attention to the musculature of a man climbing . . . stretching forward and upward to grasp the higher rungs of the ladder. Richard Edelman’s Jacob can be understood as a retelling of a familiar Biblical tale, but it can stand alone as a profound comment on the human spirit.
Credits Sculptures & Text - Richard Edelman Photography & Book Design - Ryan Hainey Editor -Max Yela
First Edition
w w w . e d e l m a n s c u l p t u r e . c o m