Beautiful faces peer from the pages of discarded vintage books. The printed word forms horizontal patterns in contrast with the curving forms of lips and hair, while giving each figure a certain fragility… “as if the wind may blow them away at any moment.” These are the ink drawings of Loui Jover, a Queensland Australia based artist who has been perfecting his craft since childhood. [Read more...]
We’ve seen amazing book carvings by Emma Taylor, Kylie Stillman, Frank Halmans, and Guy Laramee but now comes a series of book art that’s only temporary: book braiding. Math Monahan braids the pages of a book, similar to the way a french braid is done, adding a few more pages to each group as it gets folded into the braid. The result is an awesomely clean looking design that unfolds itself over time. One of his circular installations is in the Penny Stamps Graduate Studio and the other in the Hatcher Graduate library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he is currently working toward a Master of Fine Arts. Ironically the one in the library unbraided more, which Math hypothesizes is so that the books could be closer to the other books surrounding them! [Read more...]
Texas based photographer Cara Barer uses old phone books, computer manuals, maps, and comic books to create hypnotic sculptures, which she then photographs. Her inspiration came when she saw a rain-soaked Yellow Pages lying on the ground. She photographed its intricately bent pages and soon began the search for more books, and more methods to change their appearance. She realized she owned many books that were no longer of use to her or to anyone else. She soaked the manual for Windows 95 in the bathtub for a few hours, then gave it a new shape and purpose. Half Price Books became a regular haunt, and once an abandoned house gave her a set of outdated reference books, complete with mold and a storied history of neglect. [Read more...]
Twenty-three year old artist Kyle Kirkpatrick takes recycling to a whole new level by creating beautiful topographic landscapes out of books. A graduate of Norwich University College of the arts, Kirkpatrick describes his work as follows: [Read more...]
I thought I’d seen every type of book carving imaginable, until I ran across these jaw dropping creations by Guy Laramee. His works are so sculptural, so movingly natural in their form, they’ve really touched me. His works are inspired by a fascination with so-called progress in society: a thinking which says the book is dead, libraries are obsolete and technology is the only way of the future. [Read more...]
Polish Godzilla poster found on the excellent monsterbrains.blogspot.com
Sometimes reusing objects, with their worn texture and embodied history, is far more interesting than using something new. Los Angles artist Mike Stilkey knows this. He uses tall stacks of old, discarded hardcover books for his canvas, painting figures reminicent of Weimar-era German expressionism. Not sticking to pure vertical space, Stilkey’s newer pieces often cascade onto the floor, moving out into the room, transforming the whole room.
For more on his work, check out mikestilkey.com and be sure to see the video of his artistic process at the bottom of this page.
