I found this image on artistaday.com. It comes from Brian Dettmer working out of Atlanta Georgia. The work is a book that has been cut into various layers in order to form a new and original piece out of something that already exists. As can be seen by the words on the heading, the various components of the piece come from completely different sectioins of the book. At first sight, I thought of how well it represented the intricacies and mysteries that can be found in literature, however I have no idea if that is what the artsist was trying to convey,
The following quote is taken from Kinz+Tillou Fine Art, a gallery that carries his work. "Brian Dettmer sifts through stacks of old books, boxes of dusty cassette tapes, and piles of obsolete maps to uncover the perfect source and subject for his conceptual explorations and sculptural dissections. Dettmer alters pre-existing materials by selectively removing and manipulating elements as a way to allow new interpretations and ideas to emerge. With the precision of a surgeon, Dettmer uses clamps, scalpels and tweezers to recontextualize his found objects and reveal hidden meanings. "
ReplyDeleteWith this in mind, I think that he is finding new narratives and meanings in traditional, text based books through subtractive process, rather like a paleontologist. I don't think his pieces are meant to be read like text is meant to be read-- symbols are not the main currency of this work.