Mishnah: Festival

This is "Mishnah: Festival" – one of the papercuts in my new six-piece Mishnah-inspired series. It's got Daredevil, She-Hulk, and a very noticeable Silver Surfer.

Join me on Sunday, January 25, at American Jewish University for the opening reception:

15600 Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90077 

New Mishnah papercut series featuring Daredevil and She-Hulk – premiering in Los Angeles

I'll be participating in a group show at the American Jewish University, showing ten works including a new six papercut series based on the six orders of the Mishnah. You'll find Daredevil and She-Hulk in all of the works, because of their "day jobs" as lawyers... but many other characters pop up as well, such as the Silver Surfer as seen above.

The show is titled "Wisdom: The Tree of Life," and will be on display from January 11 through April 2, 2015. The opening reception is Sunday, January 25, and it's free to the public. Where?

American Jewish University
15600 Mulholland Drive
Bel Air, California 90077

The show is a multimedia group show, and will also feature work by photographer Sandra Klein, sculptor Maddy LeMel, and painter Karen V. Woo.

Little Green

"Little Green" is a papercut I created for the annual gala (this Saturday, June 1) at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, which supports their day school, early childhood center, and religious school. I've been friends with their cantor, Yonah Kliger, since junior high – and when he asked for a piece to support their gala, I was glad to make something special for him.

"Little Green" is an exploration of the story of the Burning Bush, which the Torah tells us burns but was not consumed – represented here by the swatch of living green at the center of the bush. The sharp, jagged flames are a reflection of the clear, sharp voice of God speaking to Moses from the bush, and the light it casts is so bright as to make the sky appear dark as night.

It measures 6" x 8" but is in a fancy frame I selected for it that takes it to 17" x 22".

"MaAriv Aravim" print in online auction raising money for Brandeis Hillel Day School

A giclée print of "MaAriv Aravim," one of the sixteen papercuts in my "Paper Tefillah" series, is now available in an online auction supporting the Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Rafael, California. Proceeds from the auction will directly benefit academic programming and faculty support at the school.

To place a bid, visit Bidding for Good.

"MaAriv Aravim" is the nighttime prayer that praises God for bringing on the evening, for ordering the stars and the planets, for the cycle of the seasons and the immutable processes of the universe. We praise God for keeping the heavenly bodies spinning in their orbits, and the papercut is designed to reflect these orbits. At the center is a hamsa, an ancient symbol of heavenly protection, with a mystical eye in the center backed with words from the prayer itself.

The hamsa can be seen as a representation of the hand of God, rolling light into darkness and darkness into light. The piece is composed of various space-related and dark-toned comics, to convey a sense of the evening. One of the main comic book heroes used in the background is Cloak, who harnesses the power of darkness to fight evil alongside his partner Dagger. The piece also features some comic captions which are recontextualized to explore God’s role and presence in the universe.

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.