Koufax

I've completed the "Koufax" papercut commission and delivered it this morning -- I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'm SO happy with it that I'm producing a limited edition of signed, numbered prints -- just email me with your contact information if you're interested in purchasing one. Click the pic above to see a larger image.

The piece is a single sheet papercut, backed with archival elements to represent the life and career of Sandy Koufax. It features clips from “The All-Star Story of the Dodgers,” a 1979 comic book published by Stadium Comics, as well as other baseball memorabilia.

The papercut is a triptych of shofarot, a symbol of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Koufax famously sat out game one of the 1965 World Series because it coincided with Yom Kippur. Why three? The number three reappears contantly with the blowing of the shofar; the Torah commands us three times to blow the shofar, and we are commanded to listen to it three times. There are, as well, three different shofar blasts: tekiyah, shevarim, and teruah; the different sounds of these blasts are reflected in the different patterns of each of the shofarot in the papercut.

The shofar on the right is composed of baseball bats, the natural browns reflecting the coloration of the shofar. At left is the “Dodger Blue” shofar; Koufax played his entire 12-year baseball career for the Dodgers, first in Brooklyn and then in Los Angeles. This shofar reflects that history with pieces of his uniform, stats about his career and records broken, a cheering crowd, and other elements. The shofar in the center includes images of Koufax on the mound, doing what he did so well: Koufax was the first major leaguer to pitch four no-hitters, he was named the National League’s MVP in 1963, and he was the first three-time Cy Young Award winner in baseball history. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, the youngest former player to receive that honor, and in May of 2010 he was included in a group of prominent Jewish Americans at the first White House reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.