Thread: Book Surgeon

Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed.

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. He currently lives and works in Atlanta, GA.

View pictures: The Book Surgeon (15 pieces) - My Modern Metropolis

this is actually so cool. i dont think ive ever seen something like that before. just imagine the time and effort that would have to go into creating one of those?!

some things the mind just can't comprehend - wow

- chuck

Skillful hands and an even more skilled mind!!

That is absolutely SICK.

Just silly!!

I bet his parents are not disappointed he never made it to med school....