"Tower of Babel" at the Pacific Design Center

This is "Tower of Babel," which will be included in "One for the Road," an exciting group show being held this Friday, January 31, at the Hudson|Linc gallery at the Pacific Design Center.

This papercut is made with cut-up and reassembled speech bubbles. It's probably obvious why. On the left is the piece in its frame; on the right, a detail shot.

It's Hudson|Linc's last show in this space, it's only for one night. It's a "cash and carry" show, with all works priced at $1000 and under. It's suite B215 at the Big Blue Whale from 5 to 8:30 pm. Artists in the show include:

Anthony Ausgang
Jaime Becker
Debra Bianculli
Dave Bondi
Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik
Gavin Bunner
Sam Dahl
Walpa D'Mark
Chuck Feesago
David French
Tm Gratkowski
Kio Griffith
Paul Guillemette
Zeal Harris
Brian Hollister
Thomas Isaac
James Johnson
Ben Junta
Kohl King
Shannon LaBelle
Olga Lah
Leanne Lee
Nick Lisica
Chris Mercier
Miriam Noske
Mary Anna Pomonis
Steven Poster
Max Presneill
Dominic Quagliozzi
Mike Reynolds
Sandy Rodriguez
Andy Romanoff
Yoshie Sakai
Danny Schaefer
Julia Strickler
Ami Tallman
Christa Toole
Philip Vaughan
Marjan Vayghan
Mike Vegas
Tracey Weiss
Renelle White Buffalo
Steven Wolkoff
Peggy Zask
Essi Zimm

Super Heroes, Holy Land: "Tower of David"

This is "Tower of David" — one of the works in my all-new show, "Super Heroes, Holy Land!"

The Tower of David as it now stands is actually an Ottoman structure, having been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times since it was first built in the second century B.C.E.   — with no connection to King David at all. Nonetheless it has come to represent him and his palace, and has a place on every Jerusalem tourist’s list. In addition to the stone textures taken from comics used to build this paper tower, there are pieces from Theodore Herzl’s speech at the First Zionist Conference and from a traveler’s phrasebook, underscoring the dichotomy between the history of Israel and the way these sites are experienced by the tourist. This papercut includes:

Automatic Kafka #1 (Sep 2002)
300 #2 and #3 (Jun and Jul 1998)
Aquaman #23.1 (Nov 2013)
Dreadstar and Company #6
(Dec 1985)
Green Lantern #23.3 (Nov 2013)
The Infinite Horizon #4 (Sep 2011)
Infinite Vacation #5 (Jan 2013)
Justice League of America #7.4 (Nov 2013)
Secret #2 (Jun 2012)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #12 (Jan 1993)
Wonder Woman #23.2 (Nov 2013)

Berlitz Hebrew Phrase Book. Grosset & Dunlap, New York (1964).
Israel. Ed. by Yigael Yadin. Massadah Publishing Co. Ltd., Tel Aviv (1958). Portion used is an essay by David Ben-Gurion.
“The Jewish State.” Theodore Herzl, 1896.

The show is open through March 14 at UCLA Hillel's Dortort Gallery in Los Angeles, at 574 Hilgard Avenue; call 310-208-3081 for more information.

And you can see all of the work online in this PDF catalog.

Tonight: opening reception for "Super Heroes, Holy Land"

This is "The Menorah," one of the papercuts in my all-new show, "Super Heroes, Holy Land" – opening tonight at the Dortort Gallery at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles. The reception is free and open to the public, and goes from 7 to 9 p.m. The show is open through March 14.

The Knesset Menorah, upon which this papercut is based, is itself a history text, with scenes carved into detailing the history of the Jewish people. In “The Menorah,” cut-up scenes and speech bubbles from Daredevil comics stand in lieu of these stories; the story of this blind super hero who faces continual trials and challenges serves as a parallel to the high and low points of our people’s narrative. It includes:

Automatic Kafka #1 (Sep 2002), #3 (Nov 2002), #4 (Dec 2002)
Daredevil [vol 1] #107 (Jul 2008)
Daredevil [vol 2] #56 (Mar 2004)
Daredevil [vol 3] #14 (Aug 2012), #15 (Sep 2012), #16 (Oct 2012), #27 (Aug 2013)
Powerless #3 (2005)
Secret #1 (May 2012)
Testament #9 (Oct 2006), #11 (Dec 2006) 

Jews, God and History. Max Dimont. The New American Library, New York (1964). 

I've posted a PDF catalog of all the work in the show – so please click the link and take a look.

Reception details
Dortort Gallery, UCLA Hillel
574 Hilgard Avenue  •  Los Angeles, CA 90024

Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information.

Super Heroes, Holy Land: "Tree of Knowledge" (for Tu B'shevat)

This is "Tree of Knowledge," one of the new papercuts premiering in my new show, "Super Heroes, Holy Land" — opening tomorrow night at UCLA Hillel's Dortort Gallery in Westwood.

It seemed an appropriate papercut to share on Tu B'Shevat, the "new year of the trees." It's inspired by a vision of Israel in its early years being planted with trees funded by Jews around the world. This tree is a representation of this bustling growth of the state, backed by cut-up dictionaries and representations of books and libraries from comics.

Opening Night Details
Thursday, January 16, from 7 to 9 at the Dortort Gallery: 574 Hilgard Avenue; LA, CA 90024. Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information. The show is open through March 14. And if you want to see what else is in the show, please check out the online PDF catalog.

"Super Heroes, Holy Land" catalog now online

I've posted a PDF catalog of all the work in my new show, "Super Heroes, Holy Land" – so please click the link and take a look.

The show comprises all new work exploring Israel's history and its present, as well as the narrative inherent in country-building and the ideals of Zionism. The papercuts show the country in natural as well as architectural settings, in work driven by story and character. They feature cut-up comics, including Israeli ones I purchased on my trip, as well as pieces of old books, maps and ephemera collected during the trip.

You can see all of the work LIVE this Thursday (January 16) at the opening night reception for the show. Join me from 7-9 pm at the Dortort Gallery at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles: 574 Hilgard Avenue; LA, CA 90024. Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information. The show is open through March 14.

Rhea Carmi's "Humanity's Struggles"

My opening is next Thursday, January 16, at the Dortort Gallery (at the UCLA Hillel) in Los Angeles from 7 to 9 pm; I'd love to see you there. There are actually three artists opening new shows at the  Hillel that night, which means LOTS of great art for you to enjoy.

Rhea Carmi is one of them. Her work "celebrates with antiquity the everlasting human spirit, which survives the brutality, and insanity of war, aridity and harshness of human nature as it endures." Her series called "Humanity's Struggles" is very strong, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it – here are some detail shots I took when I stopped by last week for a sneak preview.

The opening night reception is free to the public — join me on Thursday, January 16, 2014, from 7-9 pm at the Dortort Gallery at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles: 574 Hilgard Avenue; LA, CA 90024. Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information. The show is open through March 14.

Super Heroes, Holy Land: Thickets

Above on the left is my new papercut about the binding of Isaac, called "The Thicket." On the right is a piece by Avner Moriah on the same subject. Both are at the UCLA Hillel building right now – and you can see them and much more on Thursday, January 16.

My new show is called "Super Heroes, Holy Land" and is inspired by my family trip to Israel this past summer. It's all new work, and it's all stunning – and some of the largest work I've yet made.

The opening night reception is Thursday, January 16, from 7 to 9 pm, and it's free to the public. Plus, it's also the opening night for Avner Moriah and Rhea Carmi, who have work in other locations in the Hillel building.

Please join me at the Dortort Gallery at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles: 574 Hilgard Avenue; LA, CA 90024. Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information. The show is open through March 14.

Steve Wolkoff and "the power of repitition"

This week I got to meet Steve Wolkoff, a local artist whose current work includes self-described "word piles" which he says are a response to Anish Kapoor’s “1,000 Names.” I *love* that these works are made of paint, and therefore still "paintings."

Above you can see him with a piece about the Torah's 613 mitzvot (plural of mitzvah; in English, commandments) that will be in an upcoming group show in Los Angeles. He told me about the significance of the white and the blue in this, his first non-monotone pile. The 248 white mitzvot represent the "positive" commandments, the number of bones and main organs in the human body (per the Talmud); the 365 blue represent the "negative" commandments, one for each day in the solar year. So, yeah – he wrote/painted the word mitzvah 613 times and built a pile out of them.

You can check out more of his work on his website – I suggest you start with his piece titled, "the names of all my facebook friends," which I find presents an interesting commentary on our contemporary obsession with social networks. He writes:

I recreated the facebook experience in paint. I wrote the names of all my facebook friends in “facebook-blue” acrylic squiggles. Like facebook, some friends’ names are fully visible; others are partially obscured; most are lost within the mass of other friends – they are there, but you will never see them on your wall.

Super Heroes, Holy Land: "Jerusalem of Gold"

This is "Jerusalem of Gold," one of the new pieces I'm premiering in my next show, which opens on January 16 at the Dortort Gallery in Los Angeles.

The show is called "Super Heroes, Holy Land!" and it's inspired by my family trip to Israel this past summer — my first time back since my wife and I lived in Jerusalem for a year in the mid 1990s.

The show explores  Israel's history and its present, as well as the narrative inherent in country-building and the ideals of Zionism. The papercuts feature cut-up comics, including Israeli comics I purchased on my trip, as well as pieces of old books, maps and ephemera collected in Israel.

The opening night reception is free to the public, and there are two other artists premiering new work that same evening – a great night of art! Please join me on Thursday, January 16, 2014, from 7-9 p.m. at the Dortort Gallery at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles: 574 Hilgard Avenue; LA, CA 90024. Parking is available across the street at on-campus meters; call 310-208-3081 for more information. The show is open through March 14.

“Jerusalem of Gold” references the story of Rabbi Akiva giving his wife a tiara with this name — just as the papercut explores the role of women in prayer and the continuing evolution and pursuit of gender equality at the Kotel (the Western Wall). The women in this piece are relegated to the margins, away from the Wall — and the speech bubble above Wonder Woman and her companion is blank, representing the silencing of women’s voices at this holy site.