brian dettmer: book autopsies

paper. i can’t imagine a product that is as omnipresent as paper. newspapers, post-its, drywall, wallpaper, printer paper, rice paper, the list is very, very long. it has also been the focus of artists for thousands of years from the earliest forms of papyrus through to the recently developed and released e-paper.

paper art is a source of fascination for me simply because paper is such a part of our lives and is for most people associated with functional, uncreative processes. paper can have a life of its own though that can be brought into our awareness through the work of talented artists and craftspeople.

one of the many amazing and creative artists i have come across who work exclusively with paper is brian dettmer. dettmer (among other things) alters books by carving into them and revealing amazing juxtapositions of layered images like these:



my apologies to the many bibliophiles reading this blog whose sensibilities may have been offended by the wanton carving of these heavily illustrated tomes!
so hey, while you’re visiting, and if you survived that experience, here’s a link to more of dettmer’s . . . book autopsies . . . .