The Oak of the Golden Dream and Other “Dreams, Prophecies, and Visions”

He Dreamed – 18" x 24" – 2018

JOIN THE GOLD RUSH! MAKE MONEY FAST! These and other enticements to “get rich quick” are found surrounding a twisting, twining papercut oak tree made of cut-up comic books in Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik’s new solo exhibition, “Dreams, Prophecies, and Visions” at The MAIN Gallery in Newhall, California (September 18 – October 12, 2018). His work is strongly anchored in myths and stories — often those of the bible, but also extending past those borders into a broader exploration of cultural narratives. His papercuts are a riot of color and voices, made of cut-up comic books he has reassembled to tell stories of dream and prophecy.

“He Dreamed” is the centerpiece of the show, based on the story of the first discovery of gold in California, in nearby Placerita Canyon. According to the legend of the Oak of the Golden Dream, wandering laborer Francisco Lopez fell asleep under an oak tree and dreamed of gold, then awoke to find some in the very ground he had slept on.

“But that’s not the whole story,” adds the artist. “Lopez was a university-educated metallurgist, and his success wasn’t from luck or a vision, but from actual training and experience.” Brynjegard-Bialik’s papercut is a gorgeous, sexy oak tree spreading its branches across the sky, and includes the super hero Sandman — who operates in the land of dreams — as well as cut-up get-rich-quick advertisements, “because I want to play with the distinction between prophetic visions in dreams and the realization of those dreams through individual work and effort.”

The rest of the show plays in that same arena; Brynjegard-Bialik’s work is a mash-up of traditional sources and contemporary story-telling techniques, recontextualizing bits and pieces of his childhood comic book collection to delve deeply into our oldest and newest stories. He uses Superman and other undocumented aliens in portraits of American immigrant dreamers, he builds a protective whirlwind of cloud and fire from comics featuring the Invisible Woman, and imagines Doctor Strange wandering the rocky hillside of the ancient and mystical city of Tzfat.

“Brynjegard-Bialik brings these different types of stories together in the complex but clean layers of his papercuts,” wrote Shana Dambrot for KCET Artbound, “creating new meanings for the world's oldest stories as he engineers these combinations with the architectural presence of stained glass, the whimsy of gilded-age fairy tales, and the meditative aura of illuminated manuscripts.”

The opening reception for “Dreams, Prophecies, and Visions: You did WHAT to my comics?!?” will be held at The MAIN Gallery on Thursday, September 20, from 7 to 10 pm.



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“Dreams, Prophecies, and Visions: You did WHAT to my comics?!?”
Exhibition dates: September 18 – October 12, 2018
Opening reception: Thursday, September 20, from 7 to 10 pm
The MAIN Gallery

24266 Main Street
Newhall, California  91321
(661) 290-2255

Oak of the Golden Dream

In My Dreams
12" x 12"
Mixed media
2018

This is one of the papercuts that I'll be premiering in a new local show this fall, courtesy of Santa Clarita Arts. It's not up on their calendar yet, but here's the scoop: September 17 – October 12, 2018, with an opening on Thursday, September 20. You'll be hearing a lot more about it once we get through the summer... but I've already started putting together work for the show, and couldn't resist sharing a little something out here.

Most of the work in the show is inspired by "dreams, prophecies, and visions" – and this piece in particular is inspired by the Oak of the Golden Dream, the site of California's first discovery of gold – in 1842, right here in Santa Clarita. (Take that, James Marshall!) Francisco Lopez and two friends were herding cattle on his niece’s ranch and took a midday nap in the shade of an oak tree. Lopez dreamed he was floating on a pool of gold; when he awoke he stuck his knife into the ground, unearthing some wild onions, and found chunks of gold stuck amidst the roots.

I love the twisty, winding trunks of the oak trees out here, and how lost you can get underneath the spreading branches. This one, incidentally, is California Historical Landmark No. 168.

The comics I cut up for "In My Dreams" include some Justice Society of America (with the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds) and Neil Gaiman’s 1990s Sandman comic which had a very different take on the character.

The Legacy of Jacob(Paper Midrash)

My upcoming show, "Paper Midrash," includes a series of smaller works I'm calling "From the Genizah" -- named for the traditional Jewish act of burying old and tattered holy books. I rescued some books from the "discard" pile at our synagogue and have used them to new purpose in this series.

Above you see "The Legacy of Jacob," which takes its title from the page itself and is an interpretation of Jacob's dream. In Bereshit (Genesis) chapter 28 we read, "And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." Note that the word "ascending" comes before "descending" -- what does that tell us about the angels?

See this -- and more! -- at "Paper Midrash," at the Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County from January 24 through February 27, 2010. The opening reception is this Sunday, January 24, from 2 to 5 p.m. I've posted a full catalog of works in the show in PDF format here.