The Book Surgeon (15 pieces) Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time.
Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed. Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms. "My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says. "The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. Dettmer is originally from Chicago, where he studied at Columbia College. Update: Read our exclusive interview with the Book Surgeon here. Brian Dettmer's website. Beautiful Book Carvings by Alexander Korzer-Robinson.
Bristol-based Alexander Korzer Robinson creates incredible works of art by carving discarded encyclopedias and literally exposing their inner beauty.
Book carving is one of the fastest growing art forms of the moment, and artists like Alexander Korzer Robinson, Brian Dettmer and Guy Laramee are leading the movement. Korzer Robinson carefully cuts into the pages of old encyclopedias, exposing a part of its illustrations, while removing others, to create narrative scenes that are truly unique. While the images seem like they’re somehow suspended in a series of layers inside the book sculptures, they are actually left in their original place. It’s the artist’s technique that makes it look like they were placed there by hand. As you can probably guess by looking at the artworks below, book carving is a delicate and time-consuming process, but the end results are absolutely mind-blowing.
Reddit Stumble. Book Carvings by Long Bin Chen. You’ve probably seen book carvings before, but Long Bin-Chen’s works are definitely in a league of their own.
Taiwanese artist Long Bin-Chen uses discarded old books to create incredibly detailed sculptures that look like they’re made of marble or wood. Although all his artworks are made out of several books, he carves them all in such a manner that they fit together in a seamless manner. While he could use any books he gets his hands on, Long Bin-Chen only uses those that are relevant to his sculptures. For example, for one of his Buddha heads, he used New York telephone books. This way, the head will represent a caring Buddha from the East who came to take care of the west. Bought from trash collectors or collected directly from the streets, the books and magazines are first carved with a band or chain saw and then with a dental sander, for finer details. Photo credits Photo credits Photo credits Photo credits Photo credits. The Book Sculptures of Kylie Stillman. Although relatively new, book carving has become on of the most popular art forms of our time, with masterpieces of acclaimed artist like Brian Dettmer or Long Bin-Chen exhibited in galleries around the world.
Kylie Stillman cuts new life into old, outdated books, by sculpting them as slabs of stone and turning them and giving them a second chance as veritable works of art. Using a scalpel, Stillman cuts right into the stack of books, creating beautiful inverted reliefs of trees and the birds that once inhabited them. Her works remind us where the paper for the books came from, by turning the thousands of pages into versions of their original tree form.
Reddit Stumble. Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee. Can’t find any use for those thick books lying around your house?
Carve landscapes out of them! At least, that’s what Guy Laramee has been doing for some time now. An interdisciplinary artist who has been practicing for 30 years now, Laramee has done several things in his lifetime, from stage writing to contemporary music, painting painting and literature. But the work he became most famous for is book sculpture. Rocky mountain ranges, bodies of water, islands and hidden caves, you name it, he can bring it to life out of a book, in 3D. Laramee uses his imagination in his book sculptures. He says his work originates from the idea that ultimate knowledge is more of an erosion than an accumulation.
Photos © Guy Laramee via This Is Colossal, Design You Trust Reddit Stumble.