Over a 40-year career, the New York artist Tobi Kahn has kept certain works he would not sell on the walls of his studio. On Saturday, Nov. 7, those works go on public view in Mizner Park. Tobi Kahn: Quest for the Essence, organized by the Boca Raton Museum of Art, draws every piece in it from the artist's own collection, and it stays up through Sunday, April 4, 2027.

What is in the show

The exhibition covers paintings, works on paper, sculptures and ritual objects from across Kahn's career. It is anchored by two of his large Sky and Water installations, groups of paintings built from photographs of real places that end up as abstract fields of color. The museum describes the show as being about consistency and change in one artist's work, and about pieces made to slow a viewer down.

The ritual objects are a part of Kahn's practice that the museum singles out. One example in the show, ZAHRYZ v.4, is a Tzedek Box from 2021 in acrylic on wood: an object built for recording and keeping a written note of each good deed done over a year. Kahn has adapted or invented a number of objects like it for modern religious practice, and the museum frames them as open to any visitor, not only to those who share the Jewish tradition they come from. The museum bought that piece in 2025.

A painting already in the building

Visitors who have been to the museum in the past year have already seen Kahn's work. RYKIA, a multi-panel Sky and Water installation he painted between 2023 and 2025, hangs in the museum's Count and Countess de Hoernle Grand Hall. It came to the museum in 2025 as a gift of David A. Present, M.D., and the artist, and the museum's Director and CEO has led close-looking tours of it.

Opening weekend and a companion show

The day after it opens, on Sunday, Nov. 8, from 3 to 4 p.m., the museum hosts Art and Friendship, a conversation between Kahn and Douglas Dreishpoon. Later dates on the museum's calendar include Brushstrokes and Bookmarks afternoons on Dec. 10 and Feb. 11.

A second exhibition opens the same day and runs on the same dates. Spiritual Ecologies: Art, Nature, and Community is a companion show about the human search for connection and presence. Quest for the Essence is curated by Dr. Ena Heller, the museum's Director and CEO, and was made possible in part by a lead gift from Ben Z. Post.

Tickets and hours

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is at 501 Plaza Real in Mizner Park. It is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is $16 for adults and $12 for seniors 65 and over; members, children under 15 and high school students under 18 get in free. The museum will close early, at 3 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 5, to set up for the show's opening. Call 561-392-2500 for details.

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