Out of Character

Nim Ben-Reuven displays his ‘cultish’ illustrations at Small World Coffee in Princeton.

By:Hilary Parker
(Nim Ben-Reuven got his start drawing comic strips for the Rutgers Daily Targum. Mr. Ben-Reuven is exhibiting at Small World Coffee Jan. 4-Feb. 7.)
   Nim Ben-Reuven is a regular at Small World Coffee. His duct tape wallets are popular gift items for sale at the Princeton coffee shop where he once worked, and it’s a place where everybody really knows his name. Whether sitting at a table near the window or chatting with his friends behind the espresso machines, Mr. Ben-Reuven is perfectly comfortable and completely at home.
   His artwork will likewise make itself at home at Small World, where it will be on display from Jan. 4 through Feb. 7, along with several pieces by cartoonist Rich Feldman. Although Mr. Ben-Reuven got his start drawing daily comic strips for the Rutgers Daily Targum while earning his bachelor’s degree in sociology, the works on display at Small World are more reminiscent of the illustrations he has recently started doing for children’s books.
   Despite their differences, he characterizes the style of the comic strips and the paintings as ultimately the same.
   "Unlearned," he says, with a raised eyebrow and a laugh, referring to the fact that his art education ended with his classes at John Witherspoon Middle School. Unlearned, perhaps, but only in the most literal sense; his entire childhood was an informal arts education. Mr. Ben-Reuven grew up in a house filled to the brim with artwork by his father, Moshe Ben-Reuven, and he would spend hours making up stories about the people in the oil paintings.
   While he tried to emulate his father’s work in the early years of his artistic career, his artistic style matured into something uniquely his own — with one caveat. Just as the old joke goes that people aren’t quite sure when they turn into their parents, he can’t quite recall the exact time that he started mimicking one little aspect of his father’s paintings.
   "I didn’t notice when I started putting birds everywhere," he says of the similarity, but then adds, "I think it stops after that."
   Birds are not the only animal figures that feature prominently in his paintings, which typically consist of pen-and-ink characters on vividly painted backgrounds. Some of Mr. Ben-Reuven’s personal favorites are the monkey-bears, which he uses as "the animal of choice to populate the animal kingdom" in his comic strips at Rutgers.
   "No one knows what they’re thinking," he says of the animals that people have characterized as dark, but cute. "I don’t know what they’re thinking."
   Not one to put thoughts into monkey-bears’ heads, or people’s heads for that matter, Mr. Ben-Reuven first started creating black-and-white characters on color backgrounds because he wanted his viewers to determine the characters’ traits and ethnicities.
   "I didn’t want to show people who they were," he says. "They stood out a lot more when I didn’t add colors."
   Just as he wants people to determine who his characters are and what they are thinking, he is happy to have them attribute any emotions they see fit to the pieces. He didn’t aim for a particular mood during their creation, and he says the works are open to interpretation, though people often think they are morose.
   "I paint them because the act of painting them makes me surprised and happy to see the outcome," he says, though he is his own worst critic. "As far as what happens in the end? It’s out of my hands."
   While he enjoys an audience, and hopes that people will take something away from his art, Mr. Ben-Reuven is not one to change his personal style — self-dubbed as "cultish" — to appeal to the masses. With this in mind, he has moved away from his former goal of a nationally syndicated comic strip and is now focusing his efforts on illustrating children’s books.
   His first foray into the genre is The Bird Who Swallowed the Moon, a collaboration with writer Emily Raboteau. While Mr. Ben-Reuven originally planned to write and illustrate the book, he insists that he truly can’t write, and so he teamed up with Ms. Raboteau. With the book nearly complete, they are now moving into the next step of securing a publisher and beginning marketing efforts.
   Chances are, word of mouth will come in handy once again for Mr. Ben-Reuven. His Rutgers comic strips featuring popular characters Number 5 and Cliff-Jeff continue to grow in popularity thanks to a loyal student following some 40,000 strong, and the local renown has allowed him to sell T-shirts (and duct tape wallets) featuring the popular characters through his Web site.
   His experiences at Rutgers resulted in more than a loyal fan base. Although he doesn’t fancy himself a sociologist, his coursework taught him to be more observant of people and their interactions, and the ideas he garners through observation sometimes end up in his comic strips.
   "It wasn’t all for naught," he says.
Nim Ben-Reuven’s paintings and selected works by Rich Feldman will be on display at Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon St., Princeton, Jan. 4-Feb. 7. Opening reception: Jan. 7, 7-10 p.m. Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 6:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. For information, call (609) 924-4377. Small World Coffee on the Web: www.smallworldcoffee.com. Nim Ben-Reuven on the Web: www.cliff-jeff.com