The Journey of the Sun

This is the first new papercut I've completed on my new studio table: "The Journey of the Sun." It borrows heavily from Egyptian iconography, showing  the Sun god Ra (also known as Khepri, and often represented by a scarab beetle) rolling the sun across the sky, transforming bodies and souls.

It includes cut-up comics featuring Blue Beetle (of course), as well as some pieces out of an old dictionary and an old encyclopedia volume.

I made "The Journey of the Sun" for this weekend's annual fundraising gala at Albert Einstein Academy, a local charter school. As I understand you can't bid on it online; only gala attendees can bid. But if you're a serious bidder, contact me via email... maybe we can make something happen.

“And God Spoke”

“And God Spoke” is another new papercut now being featuring in "You did WHAT to my comics?!?" at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael, California. It measures 24" x 18", and is now available for purchase (contact me if you're interested).

“And God Spoke” progresses from the chaos of “tohu v’vohu” to the expanding light of God’s creation, ushered into being with the words, “vayehi or” (“let there be light”). The papercut features the characters of The Watcher, Metamorpho, and Black Bolt (whose voice is the source of his great power, and his role as leader of the Inhumans).

The papercut includes bit and pieces of cut-up comics, including the following:

Fantastic Four #240 & 248 (John Byrne) – Mar & Nov 1982
Fantastic Four #296-297 (John Buscema) – Nov-Dec, 1986
Green Lantern #50 (Geoff Johns) – Mar 2010
The Inhumans #1 – Jun 2000)
JLA: Liberty & Justice (Alex Ross/Paul Dini) – Nov 2003
The Lone Ranger #25 (Dynamite) – Jan 2011
Metamorpho and Aquaman #1 – Oct 2007
Outsiders #47 – Jul 2007
Secret Origins #6 (Halo) – Sep 1986
Trinity #31 (Kurt Busiek) – Dec 2008
Ultimate Mystery #1 – Sep 2010
War of Kings #5 – Sep 2009
What if...? #59 – Mar 1994
National Geographic – Jun 2012

See the rest of the show in person, or check out the catalog of works in the online catalog.

Paper Tefillah series: "Yotzeir"

Here's a photo of the completed "Yotzeir" papercut -- part of the "paper tefillah" series I've created for a show this January in Memphis. It's structured around the ten sefirot (סְפִירוֹת) -- according to Kabbalah, the ten attributes of God through which the universe is sustained. These sefirot are often described in metaphor as vessels of light. Here's an excerpt of the text of this morning prayer:

Be praised, Adonai our God, for the excellence of your handiwork, and for the lights You created: may they glorify You.

Back with comics (as is the rest of the series), you can see some Firestorm, some of Frank Miller's Ronin, Peter Gillis' all-digital graphic novel Shatter, some Kirby krackle, and plenty more -- but you'll have to wait for the show catalog to see the entire listing.

Paper Tefillah series: "MaAriv Aravim"

As promised, here's a small photo of the completed "MaAriv Aravim" papercut that I created as part of my "paper tefillah" series for a show coming up this January. Here's an excerpt of the text of this evening prayer:

...Whose word brings on the evening. Whose wisdom opens heaven’s gates, and Whose understanding changes the times and seasons, and orders the stars in their heavenly constellations... God creates day and night, rolling away light in the face of darkness, and darkness in the face of light, causing the day to pass and bringing on the night, separating day and night.

There's quite a bit of the comic characters Cloak and Dagger in this papercut, and even a bit of the prayer itself in the eye in the palm of the hamsa.