Los Angeles, CA – Barbara Mendes believes her life has been a series of miracles.
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Certain events have led her to embrace Judaism and paint vividly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus and now Leviticus, the third book of the Torah.
“Vayikra Mural,” her newest work, is a 6-by-16-foot mural depicting the book’s 859 verses in tiny, intricately detailed pictures.
Mendes, an Orthodox Jew, said she names her murals in Hebrew to emphasize the language’s use in the Bible. The latest mural, on display in her Pico-Robertson gallery, took her more than three years to complete, with the illustrations of each verse numbered so viewers can find it in the Bible.
The artwork, though universal, is a perfect expression of who Mendes is, said Rabbi Emeritus Marc Angel of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City. Mendes calls Angel a mentor; he also serves the same congregation that her great-grandfather, also a rabbi, once did.
“She is very full of vitality and full of life,” Angel said. “She is very imaginative, creative, and she has an eye for color.”
But Mendes, a spunky 61-year-old, wasn’t always painting biblical narratives.
Just such an amazing artist, and using here talent to tell the Parsha.