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And it is a little bit.
No one else is around, emphasizing their clique-ish isolation.
They gaze at the painting intently, studying its finer details the way they study their Torah.
The point, of course, is that you almost never see Hasids behaving this way in public.
Denniss show is a joke all right.
But is it funny?
The Manet exists in a separate universe the universe of the secular, the arts, the modern.
In the mirror behind her, we can see the circus going on around her.
She is enigmatic and gorgeous.
They dress differently from everyone else.
They stick to themselves, separate the sexes, dont go into the office with the rest of us.
I had to catch myself: Where did this they come from?
Im Jewish too, after all.
But Dennis introduces complications.
Another sees them waving their black fedoras as if they were in a chorus line.
At the same time, who are we to feel so superior?
The whole experience seems a blur.
Im not sure I like Denniss paintings, but I havent been able to stop thinking about them.
Perhaps, in the end, the joke is on us.
