Mishnah: Seeds

This is "Mishnah: Seeds" – one of the papercuts in my new six-piece Mishnah-inspired series. It's got Daredevil, She-Hulk, and a bunch of other cut-up comics as well.

I'm showing this series as part of the group multi-media show, "Wisdom: The Tree of Life" at American Jewish University in Los Angeles (curated by Georgia Freedman-Harvey). It's open through April, and the opening reception (free!) is Sunday, January 25 (15600 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90077).

I hope you'll join me!

Hag kasher v'sameach!

I hope you're all getting yourselves (and your houses) ready for Pesach. Do you make your own haggadah, or do you have a favorite prefab one? Perhaps one from a coffee company? [snicker]

My "Geulah" ("Redemption") papercut is featured on the Haggadot.com blog today, as part of their build-your-own haggadah project – specifically, for "bringing social justice to your seder."

New ark doors at Adath Jeshrun feature "Burning Bush: Flame On"

As you can see in the image above, the design of the new ark doors at Congregation Adath Jeshrun in Louisville, Kentucky, is based on my recently completed papercut, "Burning Bush: Flame On."

The doors were made by Todd Deetsch of Interior FX, Inc.; he adapted the design into a three-color application in cooler colors, having been directed by the congregation to avoid warmer colors.

Inspired by the first chapter of the book of Shemot (aka Exodus) in the Torah, in the papercut I tried to convey the sense of wonder and awe that Moses felt upon encountering the Burning Bush in the desert and hearing God's voice speak to him from its midst. The background is made up of cut-up comics (including quite a few variations on the Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four), but also a bit of a Chumash that was destined for the genizah. And of course, just to the right above center the eponymous words, "Flame on!"

Todd tells me that the gold colored lead is Dutch metal, and that he used both standard gilding and a "broken gilding" technique to create the different values of gold. The blue-colored leaf is actually real silver leaf that is hand-dipped into an acrylic resin, and the silver-colored leaf is actually aluminum, also done in a "broken gilding" technique. You can see the colors nicely in this detail of one of the doors:

The papercut will be on display (and available for purchase) at my upcoming show this fall in Northern California; I'll have details here on my blog later this summer.

Seven to Seventy

Completed a new piece tentatively titled "Seven to Seventy" (click the pix to see it larger). It's a revelation piece, with a lot of midrash in it. Look for seven bolts of lightning, Captain Marvel, pieces from a chumash index, watercolor, and more. Here are some close-up shots (click make them larger):

I expect this will be in my September show in Northern California -- details will be posted here once I get them settled.

"Burning Bush: Flame On" now showing in Memphis

I've mentioned that the show I have going on now in Memphis includes more pieces that just the "Paper Tefillah" series; here's one of the other papercuts on exhibition there right now. It's part of my "paper midrash" work, and this one is called "Burning Bush: Flame On."

Inspired by the first chapter of the book of Shemot (aka Exodus) in the Torah, it's another attempt to convey the sense of wonder and awe that Moses felt upon encountering the Burning Bush in the desert and hearing God's voice speak to him from its midst. This is a story I keep returning to in my work; as I try to understand the role and presence of the Divine in our lives, this is one of those moments that continues to intrigue me.

The background is made up of cut-up comics (including quite a few variations on the Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four), but also a bit of a Chumash that was destined for the genizah. You can see a hint of green in the upper reaches, as we are told that although the bush was on fire, it was not consumed. And of course, just to the right above center the eponymous words, "Flame on!"

It's available for sale, by the way -- the original and archival prints; let me know if you're interested by dropping me an email.

"Nisan Tree" -- Just in Time for Spring

This is my newest papercut, "Nisan Tree." It's almost spring -- and almost the Jewish month of Nisan -- and the papercut is inspired by some lines from the Talmud:

Rabbi Judah said, When a man goes out to the country in the month of Nisan [that is, in springtime] and see trees bring forth blossoms, he is to say, "Blessed be God, whose world lacks nothing, having created in it comely creatures and beautiful trees, so that human beings may enjoy them."

The tree is backed with cut-up comics to bring in the vibrant colors and textures of spring -- with characters including Green Lantern and She-Hulk, and artists including Alex Ross and Joe Kubert.

PRINTS AVAILABLE IN SUPPORT OF TWO GOOD CAUSES

If you want to get your hands on a print of this new papercut, there's only two ways to do so, because I'm only making two prints right now (though I may make more in the future):

1. At the silent auction benefiting Jewish World Watch on Sunday, April 10, at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills. I'm going to be in the "2011 Walk to End Genocide" as part of the Temple Ahavat Shalom team, raising money to fight genocide around the world. Details here.

2. At the Temple Ahavat Shalom Annual Gala silent auction on Saturday, June 4, at TAS. Details forthcoming on the TAS website -- and I'll post a reminder here in advance of the event.

Click the image to see it larger, or check out this earlier blog post to see what it looked like when it was still just a sketch.

"Reuben" papercut

This is my latest completed papercut, titled "Reuben"; it's the first in a planned series of 12 cuts based on the Twelve Tribes (the papercut is 24" in height; click the image above to see it larger).

Reuben was the oldest son of the patriarch Jacob and matriarch Leah. I've represented the tribe with a mandrake root, based on the words of Bereshit (Genesis) 30:14: "Once, at the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben came upon some mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah." Mandrakes are a symbol of fertility and their roots often resemble human figures or body parts; Leah had been having difficulty conceiving again, and it is taught that Reuben was trying to help his mother.

The Tribe of Reuben is often represented with the figure of a man, and I've built this mandrake root out of comic book representations of flesh and skin -- hoping to convey the gnarled twistedness of the root and the pliant softness of flesh. Much of the flesh textures come from the Marvel comics character The Sub-Mariner, as an allusion to the words of Bereshit 49:4, in which Jacob calls his son "unstable as water." I won't get into the racy story that figures in the Jacob/Reuben conflict (it's a bit too juicy for this blog), but there's a lot of ambivalence over Reuben's character, and I wanted to express some of that attraction/repulsion with the layers and segments that make up the root.

The blue background the surrounds the root comes from a Batman illustration by Alex Ross -- Batman has his own mother issues, usually represented by a string of pearls at the time of her murder; I liked the conflation of Batman's desire to seek justice for his mother after her death, and Reuben's attempt to find justice for his mother while she still lived.