The former public defender and NYU Law professor Rick Finkelstein now creates amazing miniaturized fantasies that are worlds removed from his old job of trying homicides, drug conspiracies, and mob cases (rickfinkelstein.net). He gave me an exclusive tour of his Soho studio, filled with drawings, paintings, bell jar dioramas, and works-in-progress like the fascinating Elizabethan-style cabinet on the next slide. Photo: Wendy Goodman
These are some of the viewing boxes Rick designs and fabricates using particle board, circuit boards, lights, and optical lenses. He has collected roughly twenty lenses of varying strengths and sizes. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The scene inside one of the boxes: a trio of bicycle riders (not from E.T.!) in the night sky. Photo: Courtesy of Rick Finkelstein
Another image from one of his installations, of flying Superman, also makes for a fun workshop poster. Photo: Wendy Goodman
A miniaturized taxidermy shop placed inside of a Plexiglas box. Photo: Wendy Goodman
A detail of a dollhouse with indoor and outdoor vignettes, such as this polar bear peering into a window. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This comical bell-jar installation is called The History of the Jews From Egypt to Miami. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This one’s called The Baseball Player. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The finished piece. Photo: Courtesy of Rick Finkelstein
