This Jewish Artist Is a Little Hasidic, a Little Counter-Culture

What do hot dogs, LSD and the Hasidim have in common?

Though it might sound like the beginning of a bad joke, the answer is surprisingly fascinating, especially if you are familiar with the work of kosher pop artist Steve Marcus.

Marcus, who also goes by “smarcus,” is a born-and-raised New York Jew. He grew up attending weekend services with his family, but never really considered himself observant until adulthood, when the unexpected death of his father led him to study Torah with a group of Haredi Torah scholars.

On its own, that story might not seem especially unusual. But one look at Marcus — or his work — and it’s immediately clear he doesn’t fit most people’s image of an Orthodox artist. His aesthetic could be described as “biker Orthodox.” “Hasidic skater” works just as well.

By the time Marcus began his Torah Studies at Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, he had already established an impressive career as a pop artist and graphic designer. His clients have ranged from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Norman Mailer to Nickelodeon and High Times magazine. His work is as colorful and eye-catching as it is trippy, featuring bright colors and cartoonish subjects.

Since becoming more observant, Marcus has repeatedly returned to Orthodox Jewish life as a subject. He’s created exhibitions such as “Steve Marcus: Top Dog of Kosher Art,” which includes prints like “Rabbi Frank and the Frank Tank,” which features a NYC street scene. A Hasidic man in full Orthodox garb stands in front of Katz’s Deli near a whimsical kosher version of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

Another exhibition, “Through the Hat: The Art of Steve Marcus,” has wood cut images of turn-of-the-century Jews going about their lives on the Lower East Side. These nostalgic scenes hang alongside more unexpected work, like “The Outlaw Minyan,” which shows what can best be described as a tattooed biker gang donning tefillin and tallit while they pray. One can certainly see echoes of Marcus himself in this work.

His newest exhibition, which is currently on display at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Center for Jewish History, is even more far out. Entitled “Psychedelicatessen: A Powerful Dose of Art by Steve Marcus,” the exhibition features “kabbalistic Jewish artwork inspired by underground comics, Hasidism, Jewish tradition, and the psychedelic art of the free love era,” according to YIVO. One of my personal favorite pieces in the collection is “The Chazon Ish Blotter Art,” which has about 45 purple-toned photos of Haredi Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz — often known as Chazon Ish — with an image of his grave in the middle. The image is adorned with the word “Crack!” in comic book-style font, and Stars of David around the border. It is printed on acid-free LSD blotter paper, meaning that each square with the Rabbi’s face is one dose of LSD.

Despite the irreverent depictions of Jewish life and figures, all of Marcus’ art is kosher. For instance, it is against halacha to depict two-dimensional images of celestial bodies such as the moon and sun, so you won’t find those in his art. Additionally, traditional halacha generally prohibits sculptures of the full human form (to prevent idolatry), so any sculptures he creates do not have arms or legs, usually only busts. Nudity is also a no-go in the name of modesty.

For Marcus, this is a way to be inclusive to Jews of all observance levels.

“One of the things that I think is a big issue is the schism among the Jewish people — religious versus secular,” he told a reporter with the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. “The thing is that through the artwork, by making it accessible to everybody, I’m pulling people, the Jewish people, a little closer together.”

He’s not, however, afraid to push boundaries.

It is, if you’ll pardon the pun, a somewhat unorthodox depiction of Jewish life, but Marcus has long been living proof that being observant doesn’t look the same for everyone. A little counter culture, a little Hasidic, Marcus and his art beg the question: What does kosher art actually look like?

His answer isn’t what most people expect. It includes hot dogs, biker gangs, Hasidim, psychedelic colors and even LSD blotter paper — all filtered through the boundaries of Jewish law. In Marcus’ hands, those boundaries don’t restrict creativity; they become part of the art itself.