Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Papercraft: Comic Book Tefillah

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A series of sixteen papercuts based on the Jewish prayer service.
On exhibit at the Temple Israel Museum in Memphis.

Jewish artist Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik uses cut-up pieces of comics and combines them with Jewish texts to create visually stunning paper tefilláhs that visually re-interpret stories such as the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the orbits of the planets, and the revelation at Sinai.  However, to the casual observer, they look like stained-glass artworks. See the finished work at his next show, opening on September 9th at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael, California.

"My work is visual biblical commentary, combining the traditional art of papercutting with a contemporary graphic sensibility to explore Jewish tradition and the role of the Divine in our lives. I always begin with text — often midrash, Tanakh, or Talmud, but also the words of our poets and musicians. My work is influenced by elements of the natural world that are touched by the Divine: the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the orbits of the planets, the revelation at Sinai.

My work is made of clean lines and patterns, sinuous shapes and sharp edges, large fields of color and small intimate spaces. My backgrounds incorporate watercolor, comic books, and cut-up pieces from holy books destined for ritual burial."

Rebel Spies by Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik

"Rebel Spies" is based on Shelach Lecha in the Torah (Numbers 13:1–15:41). Moses sends spies to scout out the Land of Canaan, and they return with stories of giants who live there and clusters of grapes so large it takes two men to carry them. The story is a contrast between those who fear going into the land, and those who have faith that with God they will succeed. The papercut includes cut-up Star Wars comics, with characters and speech bubbles that complement the biblical story. So yeah, that is Princess Leia in one of the grapes"

"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!""

"Ahavat Olam" is from my Paper Tefillah series, which features 16 papercuts that represent the major prayers of contemporary Jewish worship. It's a prayer about God's gift of Torah to the Jewish people, and I've represented it as the Etz Chaim (Tree of Life). The leaves and branches are Hebrew letters and the background is made up entirely of cut-up Superman comics and pieces from prayerbooks and a chumash that had been destined for ritual burial in the genizah."
 
"In this piece I'm exploring the double-edged knowledge humankind gets from exploiting the atom -- on the one hand, the potential for great power, and on the other, the potential for great destruction; ask Dr. Bruce Banner about the negative side, and you'll get it.

The shape of the tree is partial allusion to a mushroom cloud, and it's filled with the Hulk (and foliage) from a wide-ranging collection of comics -- including the work of Jack Kirby in the first Hulk comics all the way up through recent storylines like "World War Hulk.""
 
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (Bereshit/Genesis 7:11).

This is a different take on Noah's Ark -- different for me, at least. Instead of focusing on the rains falling from above, I'm looking at the waters from below. In verse 7:17 we read, "the waters increased, and bore up the ark" -- and so it is here. Still finalizing the colors a bit, but it's pretty close to complete. And check out this detail shot."


"For those of you who can't make it to Memphis to see "Paper Tefillah" in person I'm posting this PDF catalog, which shows all sixteen papercuts in the series and includes full descriptions — as well as lists of the comics used in each piece."

1 comment:

  1. I am a psychologist but also an artist. I love your work. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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