It was a dream of mine to create a graphic novel based on my life and Jewish heritage. When I was 40, after the death of my father and the selling of my childhood residence, I left Brooklyn for the New Jersey suburbs. While it wasn’t far, the suburbs felt alien to me after the buzz and excitement of New York City. I was dislocated and had to imagine a new future. I found myself falling back on the text of Exodus, and examining the story anew. I felt connected to it now that I had undergone, what was for me, a massive change in my life. A significant transition.
That’s when the idea came to me to put pen to paper and tell my story, to make my own Exodus, and I knew just where to set it.
I spent significant periods of time at Brighton Beach and Coney Island as a kid. I was struck with their mythic qualities, diverse crowds, ruined amusement rides, broken architecture, concession stands, and faded history. These epic memories and structures would serve as the environment to depict a modern retelling of the Exodus from the Hebrew Bible.
The Brighton Beach Bible is a narrative about Jewish culture and identity that also explores modern religious belief as depicted in art. I painted at the beach and included old master art references, movie stills, comic book panels, and other visual material to depict the most important story in the Jewish canon with seriousness, irony, and humour.
Mixing my art with Jewish traditions and personal experiences was a cathartic and rewarding journey for me.
You can read more about The Brighton Beach Bible here.
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It was a dream of mine to create a graphic novel based on my life and Jewish heritage. When I was 40, after the death of my father and the selling of my childhood residence, I left Brooklyn for the New Jersey suburbs. While it wasn’t far, the suburbs felt alien to me after the buzz and excitement of New York City. I was dislocated and had to imagine a new future. I found myself falling back on the text of Exodus, and examining the story anew. I felt connected to it now that I had undergone, what was for me, a massive change in my life. A significant transition.
That’s when the idea came to me to put pen to paper and tell my story, to make my own Exodus, and I knew just where to set it.
I spent significant periods of time at Brighton Beach and Coney Island as a kid. I was struck with their mythic qualities, diverse crowds, ruined amusement rides, broken architecture, concession stands, and faded history. These epic memories and structures would serve as the environment to depict a modern retelling of the Exodus from the Hebrew Bible.
The Brighton Beach Bible is a narrative about Jewish culture and identity that also explores modern religious belief as depicted in art. I painted at the beach and included old master art references, movie stills, comic book panels, and other visual material to depict the most important story in the Jewish canon with seriousness, irony, and humour.
Mixing my art with Jewish traditions and personal experiences was a cathartic and rewarding journey for me.
You can read more about The Brighton Beach Bible here.