Guy Laramee’s monumental book sculptures
Artist Guy Laramee carves incredible landscapes out of vintage books, dictionaries and encyclopedias in his Great Wall and Biblios series. Erosion of cultures is the continual theme that runs through the last 25 years of his works. In his artist statement:
“I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.“
Below are a few of my favorites.
perfect use of japanese text for a zen garden
(all images by Guy Laramee)
These are mesmerizing…I’m not sure how I feel yet about the “dessicration” of the books. The feel of a book in hand has become such a seldom thing for so many…I have a knee-jerk defense response on behalf of the book. But what the artist has done is so connected to “holy” in his subject choices. Stunning, in every sense.
Reblogged this on A Bunch of Nonsense and commented:
I would normally cry if someone tear, cut, destroy, or in any way harm books like this, especially the ones with thick, yellow papers and hard covers (I mean, doh, that’s what makes a book beautiful!). But this is just so magnificent, and beautiful. Especially when you keep in mind that these amazing art is made from books. Oh, God bless you, Guy Laramee!
I too am a book lover (they just start accumulating around me) but Guy’s really transformed them! I also like to imagine him rescuing his medium from forgotten piles or abandoned attics.