Ben Noam "Mushroom Menorah"

Los Angeles artist, Ben Wolf Noam started this series as an object for his family to celebrate a centuries-old tradition, to be used during Hannukah, but also displayed throughout the year as a reminder of his cultural heritage. He drew on the California Clay Movement to create a psychedelic fantasy rooted in Jewish stories. The mushrooms form architectural villages—like a shtetl—inspired by the bright colors of Chagall, Jewish modernism, and the forest mushrooms that emerge with the changing of the seasons.