AVADENKA, LYNNE

In the manner of the contemporary Book Arts, the images in Breathing Mud are cumulative; beginning with an architectural facade inspired by Prague buildings which gradually transform into the Golem and back to the Prague facade as the pages of the book are turned. The text traces thte legend of the Golem back from medieval Prague to much earlier times. Instructions for creating the creature frame the upper portion of the pages. Along the bottom, the instructions are reversed to negate the power of the actual spell. The hand-painted middle-spread shows the Golem surrounded by the ten mystical levels of Kabbalistic thought necessary to create the monster. This book explains the history behind the story and the images serve as visual counterpoint to the text. “The architectural motif was inspired by the many wondrful buildings of Prague...The hand colored page, displaying the configuration of the ten mystical realms of Kabbalistic thought, takes its color cues from a 1953 model of DNA.” Exhibited: Precious Possessions, Treasures from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, May-August 2001 (Catalogue no.52)