A 6-foot-tall balloon sculpture rabbi is not the sort of guest you’d expect to see at a party.
But if you happen to be in the same room with the bearded, inflated figure, the air-filled guy draped in a tallit and wearing a kippah, be prepared for the whimsical character to steal the show.
“I make people say ‘Wow,’ ” said San Francisco resident Brian Asman. “I treat what I do as art, and provide that art to amaze.”
Asman, 38, owns and operates Balloons Equal Fun, a San Francisco–based company he started in 2003. He makes life-size balloon sculptures that resemble guests of honor, animals and almost any object you can imagine — from a haunted house you could actually walk through to a 22-foot clown.
His bigger pieces take him a day or sometimes even a week to finish, but Asman can also dazzle partygoers in a matter of seconds with his smaller, signature balloon twists. Using one or two features, such as his subject’s hair style or even a favorite hand gesture, he can create a mini-portrait of anyone lickety-split.
He has worked Hollywood celebrity parties, and his pieces have been seen on “All My Children.” His website includes quotes of praise from domestic diva Martha Stewart and comedian-actor Robin Williams, and he recently worked President Barack Obama’s Fourth of July celebration at the White House.
He teaches classes on his art at seminars around the world, but rarely (if ever) in the United States, and he doesn’t advertise or have any kind of a store. “I get very good recommendations,” he said matter-of-factly.
As a Jew, Asman takes a special pride in his Jewish creations, which have included:
• The aforementioned rabbi, seen in April at a 62nd birthday bash for Israel held by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
• Ten centerpiece designs at a party honoring Rabbi Sydney Mintz’s 10-year anniversary at Congregation Emanu-El three years ago. Each piece represented Mintz doing a different aspect of her job, such as: conducting a conversion (giving a Jewish star to someone); teaching (next to a blackboard with Hebrew on it); and marrying a couple (underneath a chuppah). He also created a life-size Rabbi Mintz and was in attendance at the party to create his on-the-spot caricature pieces for guests.
• For Chanukah, figures holding a menorah, gelt and dreidels.
• For a bat mitzvah, a tunnel of hands that people had to walk through to get to the room where the party was.
• And for another bat mitzvah being held entirely in a restaurant on the Peninsula, a re-creation of what one might see in the area behind a bimah, replete with a Jewish star, Torah and ark — “to make it look like a synagogue,” he said.
“I can make anything you can imagine,” he added. “Real or imagined.”
So, how did this whole balloon thing come about?
Thirteen years ago, the native of Brooklyn, N.Y., was an aspiring chef on the East Coast when a fellow chef felt Asman’s flair for entertaining could liven up his 3-year-old’s birthday party.
Asman agreed to attend, but had no idea how he was going to keep the kids’ attention. The night before, he walked into a bookstore and bought a book on how to make balloon animals.
“That night I taught myself all eight animals,” Asman recalled. “The balloons were such a big hit that other people started calling me [for] their kids’ parties.”
Still, he didn’t jump right into the balloon biz. He moved to San Francisco to pursue his career as a chef, but because his passion for cooking came from seeing diners react to his food, he felt unsatisfied working in a closed-off kitchen. Next he dabbled in high-tech, but hated the 9-to-5 thing. His plan was to go back to New York and figure out a new career plan, but something stopped him.
“I never gave myself a full shot at anything on my own,” Asman said. “So I thought, why not try the balloons. I printed up business cards and was able to survive [in San Francisco] for a few more months.”
Still, there were only so many balloon animals Asman could create. But seeing an artist at Pier 39 make an intricate balloon gun inspired him to take his craft to the next level. It required a lot of practice, but he eventually began mastering it.
Today Asman will make, or attempt to make, anything out of balloons. A visual or a verbal description is all he needs. He likes to trace his inspiration to the boy who approached him years ago at a fair wanting an alligator, but all Asman knew how to make was a frog.
“The little boy put his hands on hips,” Asman recalled, “and said, ‘You just don’t know until you try, mister.’ He was right, and that line has stuck with me. I never wanted to hear that again.”
However, he does refuse to make copyrighted material from television, movies and comic books. That’s too easy, he said.
“If I make one, everyone will want one,” said Asman, adding that it “bores” him to make the same object over and over. “Plus, people already know what it’s supposed to look like in the end. If they don’t know, then my work becomes interactive. I might stop in the middle of making a monkey and say, ‘Oh, what’s special about this monkey?’ If someone shouts, ‘He flies,’ then I’ll incorporate that. Then it’s fun for everyone.”
Balloons Equal Fun information: www.balloonsequalfun.com or (415) 775-9975.
Cover photo by Cathleen Maclearie