You did what to my comics?!?
Papercut art exhibition explores abundance, fragility, and hope
San Rafael, CA — The Osher Marin Jewish Community Center is proud to present Harvest, History & Home: Jewish Papercuts by Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik, a dynamic exhibition running October 8, 2025 through January 4, 2026. An opening reception with the artist will be held Friday, November 14, from 4:00–5:15 pm.
This exhibition unfolds across three distinct spaces, each exploring how Jewish tradition and storytelling find new life through Brynjegard-Bialik’s unique medium: papercuts made from his childhood comic book collection. Layering superheroes and sacred texts, he creates what he calls “paper midrash”—visual commentary that bridges heritage and pop culture.
The first gallery celebrates Sukkot, transforming comics into fruits, branches, and sheltering walls that evoke both the abundance of harvest and the fragility of temporary dwellings. Portraits of biblical and modern Jewish heroes—echoing the custom of welcoming sacred guests—hang alongside imagery that honors the ancient indigenous practices of the Jewish people in their ancestral land.
The second gallery turns to Hanukkah, focusing on themes of light, resilience, and hope. The work includes a series of eternal lights (ner tamid) inspired by his travels to synagogues around the world as part of his artist residency practice. In others, flames and menorahs rise from shards of comic panels, interwoven with images of Israel that connect the ancient story of resistance to the modern Jewish homeland.
The final section is Brynjegard-Bialik’s Paper Mishnah series, a body of work that extends his dialogue between sacred sources and contemporary visual culture with an exploration of Judaism’s oral law.
The artist has a Talmudic understanding of comic books, and makes meaningful use of them in his exploration of ancient Jewish narratives. “When You Have Gathered” is a landscape of the Old City of Jerusalem, made of cut-up Battlestar Galactica comics — a study in exile and return. His eternal light series features Jewish comic book super heroes, some well-known and others more obscure, including The Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm, the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, Ragman, and even the Holy Roller, a character from a new comic book co-created by Andy Samberg.
The fragments of comic books and even some Jewish texts animate Brynjegard-Bialik’s art, grounding it in both personal memory and collective cultural history.
“Comic books are so Jewish,” says Brynjegard-Bialik. “The way they tell stories, the way they use language, and the inherent morality and advocacy.” A close look suggests that his papercuts are also subtle commentary on the changing world, with a particular focus on being Jewish in America.
Harvest, History & Home is at once playful and profound, inviting viewers to see how stories—biblical, rabbinic, and comic book—shape Jewish identity and illuminate the present.
For more information, visit www.nicejewishartist.com/OMJCC.html
“Harvest, History & Home”
Exhibition dates: October 8, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, November 14, 2025 | 4:00–5:15 pm
Osher Marin Jewish Community Center
200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael, CA 94903
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Images:
Self Portrait
Joseph, 24″ x 36″, Mixed media – cut-up comics, 2024
When You Have Gathered, 11″ x 14″, Mixed media – Battlestar Galactica comics,2025
On Krypton, My Home, 8″ x 10″, Mixed media – Supergirl comics, 2025
Ner Tamid: Ben, 9″ x 12″ , Mixed media – Ben Grimm comics, 2025
Mishnah: Women, 18″ x 24″, Mixed media – Daredevil and Silver Surfer comics, 2015
