A couple of people have recently sent some images my way, suggesting that they might be something I like. Well, hours of browsing and many swoons later, I am prepared to continue to spread the love.
The Artist: Brian Dettmer
The Books: Beautiful Parcels of Obscured Information
Dettmer’s work quietly reveals the amazing worlds that books contain between their covers. With gestures to the process of discovery we go through when reading a book, Dettmer deconstructs and constructs his pieces with precision and care, cutting and peeling away bits of information and image to create a lovely tribute to each book as an art object. (And when I say “construct,” I don’t mean that he is actually adding anything back in – I mean that he simply shapes his work by the act of removing parts of pages to reveal the pages below. Like a sculptor, finding the image in the block of stone.)
It really makes you step back and realize what a truly remarkable thing a book is.
Have a look, and when you’re done, be sure to head over to his website and look around, and check out his flickr photo stream. Be prepared to lose hours out of your day, but rest assured you will come back feeling like your world is better because of it.
Eye Surgery. Image courtesy of the artist and Packer Schopf Gallery.
Frank Lloyd Wright. Image courtesy of the artist and Packer Schopf Gallery.
Encyclopedia of World Travel. Image courtesy of the artist and Saltworks Gallery.
A Loose Leaf and Self Revising Reference Work. Image courtesy of the artist and Saltworks Gallery.
Detail of above. Image courtesy of the artist and Saltworks Gallery.
Health and Longevity. Image courtesy of the artist.
The National Register. Image courtesy of the artist and Packer Schopf Gallery.
The War on All Fronts. Image courtesy of the artist and Saltworks Gallery.
World Books. Image courtesy of the artist and Packer Schopf Gallery.
This is giving me an urge to go home and attack my books with an exacto knife.
Are you aware that he is part of a show in Delaware at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts called “The Book: A Contemporary View”? Through 4/17.
No way! Thanks, Mr. Bigote. We’ll have to go check it out – for anyone in the area interested, more info can be found here: http://www.thedcca.org/exhibit/book-contemporary-view
Looks like the exhibition is also going to be at Towson University from September to November, for people unwilling to come to this shore.
We saw that show at the DCCA a few weeks ago. It was very cool. Love the work by Long-Bin Chen. And the book tornado. And the mushrooms. Wilmington doesn’t have a whole lot of funky stuff going on, but this was definitely a highlight. And be sure to put $1 in the big wheeled contraption on your way in. If you go, the kids might like the urban wildlife refuge nearby, too.
holy shizzow! That is breathtaking stuff. Thanks for sharing.