Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Books As Art (And Other Things)

The Make Magazine blog has a post up today about the book sculptures of a guy named Tim Baker, who is also a makeup artist (check out the gruesome pics on his site). This got me thinking about books as physical objects, and the uses to which they're put. I for one use books in my home studio as sound diffusing material--I mean, why pay hundred of dollars for these when you've already got the equivalent lying around the house?

You could check this out, too, some bookshelves made out of books. Here's a guy who made the world's largest book, and if it's tiny books you're after, you could join the Miniature Book Society. I'm also reminded of Tom Phillips' book A Humument, which was created by selectively obliterating, in various artistically compelling ways, some of the words of an already published book.

Finally, here's an article about a sculpture, commissioned by Cornell, the college where I teach, that's made entirely of faculty publications. I missed the boat on that one, but I must confess that I have quite a few such "sculptures" all over my office just now.

If you've seen some good extra-literary uses for books, post a link in the comments.

3 comments:

Burl Veneer said...

Raw Dog Screaming Press has published a couple actual books in special sculptural editions designed by one "Baragonis Wreap" (also a movie-prop guy).

rmellis said...

I was very into miniature books for a while. Binding them was a blast, but getting itty bitty text on the pages was not.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v15/naomiash/minibooks.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v15/naomiash/insideminibook.jpg

My friend Linda made a sculpture out of a copy of my book, and she was worried I'd be offended that she cut up and burned and painted over my words. No way -- it was the neatest thing.

rmellis said...

Hm... burl veneer knows how to make a link in a comment, but I don't...