Herzl

"Herzl" is a papercut I made based on a photograph of Theodore Herzl at the First Zionist Congress in 1897, in Basel, Switzerland. This piece takes on more significance for me now as my family is planning a trip to Israel.

However, it seems that not many people are as familiar with the original photograph as I am – which is fine; it's a touchstone for me, but not for everybody. So I thought it would be useful to present the original photo alongside my portrait, for those who are interested.

My portrait is made with cut-up Green Lantern comics – because Herzl is known for the words, "Im tirtzu, ein zo agada" – "If you will it, it is no dream." And of course, Green Lantern's ring is powered by willpower.

You can still see it live at "You did WHAT to my comics?!?",  now showing at Brave New World Comics in Newhall, California (details here). A color catalog of all works on display is available for download as a PDF here – and though many of them have sold, there are a few works still available for purchase.

Theodore Herzl:finished portrait!

Here's a photo of my latest papercut, a portrait of Theodore Herzl. The inspiration for it is his quote:

"Im tirtzu, ein zo agada."
"If you will it, it is no dream."

It's backed with elements from Green Lantern comics -- after all, his ring is powered by will. I also like that with its entirely green palette it evokes the "plant a tree in Israel" campaigns.

In case you missed my earlier post, here are some details from the portrait (click to enlarge):

Theodore Herzl:details from a portrait

I'm sharing a few "sneak peek" details from my current papercut, a portrait of Theodore Herzl. The working title for this piece had been "Im Tirtzu," from his quote:

"Im tirtzu, ein zo agada."
"If you will it, it is no dream."

I'm now leaning toward just calling it "Theodore Herzl." it's my first papercut portrait, and as soon as I'm satisfied that it's done I'll post a full image of it.