“You Did WHAT To My Comics?!?” comprises works in paper made from cut-up comic books, in which local artist Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik explores the dreams, prophecies, and visions of traditional cultural narratives. He positions Superman as an American immigrant dreamer, the Invisible Woman as a protective whirlwind of cloud and fire, and wraps the Sandman up with the Oak of the Golden Dream. “Brynjegard-Bialik brings these different types of stories together in the complex but clean layers of his papercuts,” wrote Shana Dambrot for KCET Artbound, “creating new meanings for the world’s oldest stories as he engineers these combinations with the architectural presence of stained glass, the whimsy of gilded-age fairy tales, and the meditative aura of illuminated manuscripts.”

Says Brynjegard-Bialik, “My work explores the role of narrative in the development and expression of identity. I work in paper because I like its fragility and its place as our primary medium for telling and sharing stories across generations. It is both ephemeral and constant. I work with stories, legends and mythologies, filtered through the twin lenses of papercutting and contemporary pop culture storytelling techniques. I layer cut-up comic books into my work, drawing parallels between comic book mythologies and religious traditions to delve into the stories that make us human. Comic superheroes exist outside of the “natural” world, be they visitors from other planets or people whose powers stem from strange scientific accidents; they have weaknesses and flaws, and their struggles are often a metaphor for the human experience. I bring these different types of stories together in the layers of my papercuts, searching for new meanings in these combinations.”