Brian Dettmer is an Atlanta-based artist who works in the medium of altered books. He takes old textbooks on natural history, medicine and engineering, and transforms them into these amazing pieces of art. He writes:
The age of information in physical form is waning. As intangible routes thrive with quicker fluidity, material and history are being lost, slipping and eroding into the ether. Newer media swiftly flips forms, unrestricted by the weight of material and the responsibility of history. In the tangible world we are left with a frozen material but in the intangible world we may be left with nothing. History is lost as formats change from physical stability to digital distress.
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. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge. This is the area I currently operate in. Through meticulous excavation or concise alteration I edit or dissect communicative objects or systems such as books, maps, tapes and other media. The medium’s role transforms. Its content is recontextualized and new meanings or interpretations emerge.
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In this work I begin with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. I cut into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. I work with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories. 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.
Beautiful!
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@ranthoron: I sympathize with what you’re saying but, after having worked at a library for many years, I can tell you that most of these books would probably have been pulped. Sad but true. I’d rather have them rescued and lovingly turned into artwork than become a cardboard box.
Essentially keeping by destroying…
But WOW!
@ranthoron: I sympathize with what you’re saying but, after having worked at a library for many years, I can tell you that most of these books would probably have been pulped. Sad but true. I’d rather have them rescued and lovingly turned into artwork than become a cardboard box.