Atlanta transplant,
Brian Dettmer, uses knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve his masterpieces one page at a time. He never adds any artifacts to the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or any other reference books that serve as his canvas.
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. 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."
Dettmer is originally from Chicago, where he studied at Columbia College.
