While browsing through the Humument work of Tom Phillips I came across this amazing piece of art done by artist Brian Dettmer which he dedicated to Tom Phillips. I found this book very different from most of the other humument books i had seen so far, one of the main differences i notice is that there are not additional pictures painted on the book, there are no drawings on the pages, also the total shape of the book is not square anymore. The only kind of editing done to this book is by cutting the edges and the pages so that it reads as one page but actually it's total of 360 pages. There are not lots of colors used not so many mediums used and yet it looks so unique and the hard work done speaks for itself. This is a real work of art and is now present in the Ashmolean museum.

1000 Journals Project

The 1000 Journals Project is an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal is to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers. This awesome idea is only slightly flawed in the sense that you have a better chance at winning the lottery than coming across one of the original 1000. There is is this new 1001 journals (i think thats what its called) that you can go to and request a journal.

Nicholas Jones

Nicholas Jones is a known sculptor who uses books and printed paper to create incredibly involved artworks. He transforms discarded books by folding, tearing and sewing to highlight the poetic nature of the book as a sculptural form.One of his reasons for choosing books as his object was because he loves the fact of a ready made object being changed/converted into a totally different object. Like others, he has also faced the scrutiny of "damaging" books due to his artwork, but he says that comes with the job!

Fragile Industries Studios

Though the artist doesn't present her name.. her website shows tons of material of book alterations. Apparently it's what she specializes in, but she also does shrines and other various things. Her technique is a little different than most examples I've seen because she covers each and every page with art and pictures (like a scrapbook) without using any of the actual lettering from the books. She also types up what she wants to put in the book herself, to glue in. She explains that the purpose of her work as an artist is one of revelation. Her work is detailed and complex so that something new is revealed withe very viewing.

Rebecca Sawyer

Sawyer sums up her idea for a altered book with drawers and niches in this explanation she gave in an interview:

"I started creating altered book and mini albums after painstakingly digging through our family genealogy. It was then that I realized, how important it is to document our current times with photos and bits and pieces of everyday ephemera. I have been on a 10-year quest to help others to preserve their precious memories in a safe, fun, and interactive environment."

Her books are definitely interesting and interactive. It ups the ante on just a regular scrapbook, while making it more original and interesting. Though the process is extremely time consuming, Sawyer says her biggest struggling what getting over the fact that it is a book, and cutting it up goes against what she's always been taught. I can definitely relate to this, because painting the first page of my book for class was heart wrenching!

Barton Lidice Benes

Barton Lidice Benes is an artist dating back to around 1974. This specific piece is titled Livre Censure (or censored book). He started this technique after being on a train going to Philadelpha and was reading a biography about Nixon. He started scratching things out as he read it, and by the time he reached Philadelphia he had basically scratched out the entire book. After that, he started nailing books shut and tying them up.

Shauna Palmer

This piece is by a young artist by the name of Shauna Palmer and is a part of her Altered Book series. One of the many things I love about this piece is her use of different mediums to put together a magnificent pair of pages. Bringing together old photos, stamps, colored pencils, sharpies, and the text itself creates layers within the composition and adds irony to the text " two more Clean white sheets of paper" located on the left page. Also, using the text to build a crown on top of the baby portrait is pretty creative in my eyes.

Craig Paul Nowak

"I paint to show my audience what they most often take for granted, that which can not be seen, only felt. And in doing this, I must remain open to infinite possibilities because with limitations comes slow yet immanent demise. Just as well, the use of a single method and medium remains an insufficient means of discussing a complex binary such as that of yin and yang, or in this case, the connection between a man’s soul and the man himself." -Craig Paul Nowak

This Piece by Craig Paul Nowak is a self portrait on a full book shelf. The use of a common house hold structure as his canvas allows him to build or take apart a connecting piece. If three books were removed, the image would not be the same and if the books were rearranged, a viewer may never know that it was a portrait at all to begin with.

Gordon Parks, American Gothic, 1942

Gordon Parks is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and is best known for his work as a photojournalist. His images display an enduring message of hope and are very carefully juxtaposed.

Mark Langan

Mark Langan makes what he calls "Corrugated Art."  He takes pieces of cardboard and turns them into artwork exclusively by cutting, bending, and wrinkling the medium.  It is a particularly interesting form of repurposed artwork because the object retains more or less its original form.  The majority of repurposed art is made by putting together lots of objects so that they achieve some form or by painting over an existing paper in a book.  Langan's method is innovative because it does not involve adding anything to the cardboard.  His creations are made only through creating textures by exposing the inside layers of the cardboard, and by cutting designs in the surface.  Adding ink is not involved.

This piece is by Alexander Korzer-Robinson and it is one of his alter books. In this specific book, he has cut around all of the illustrations throughout and ended up creating a brand new "picture book". The entire composition was improved by the inclusion of the navy border of the book, which brings the audience's attention to the middle of the piece and gives the feeling as if your "seeing inside of the book.

Su Blackwell

Wow! Patience is really a virtue. This great piece was done by Su Blackwell. The altered book was made into a pop up book through the patient use of the Xacto-knife. Instead of just slicing and dicing all of the pages like the below artist, Brian Dettmer, Su has taking the scraps and created 3-D shapes which end up giving the book new life.

Brian Dettmer

Brian Dettmer is a sculptor who has a specialization in using books as his medium for sculpting. His techniques are really interesting and he has a large variety of different book alterations. He takes a book and uses the title to create a piece related to the title within the book itself. I really got a lot of inspiration from looking at his pieces and you should google him and search for some of his stuff. His utilization of space within the sculptures is magnificent and you really get a sense of the depth within the piece which has a profound effect when viewing his pieces.

This is one of the pieces where he really utilized the title of the book with the thought process of creating the piece. He created the anatomy of a human skull inside a textbook on anatomy. All of his work is inspiring and contains plenty of wonderful idea we could use for our project.

MC Escher, Relativity

So this lithograph is absolutely insane. The way he completely distorts your understanding of perspective is astounding! While this image lacks color the lines and the wide range of value probably does it more justice than color would have.

Nothing is what it was intended to be, in the hands of a creative person.

Repurposed art speaks further than the aesthetics and into the depths of society as a whole. Human waste is out of control, and the United States throws away far more than any other country. It is intriguing to reconsider what an average person may consider waste and to consider it a work of art...here is an article in the times you should read about Lisa Occhipinti.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/garden/28qna.html?_r=2

Here is an example of Lisa's work:

recycled words

by Will Ashford

i like this page because there are three parts to it. the first thing that you might notice is the umbrella, since its darker than anything else on the page, the next would be the raindrops , if you look closer each drop contains an i which goes along with the sentence at the bottom. a lastly the portrait in the background , which gives the feeling of being there in that city holding an umbrella in a storm.

Will Ashford

Some really great examples of altered book pages by Will Ashford. He makes very visually interesting use of both his own media and the text of the book he has chosen, and has interwoven the images so well into the text that it almost looks like it's part of the book itself. He creates a dark, enigmatic feel in a lot of his pages that draws the viewer in and makes them wonder. He has some more excellent examples on his website that might help anyone having trouble incorporating text and media in a cohesive way.

This is a self-portrait done by Pablo Piscasso in 1907. The painting was during Picasso's cubist period which was also the same time he painted the famous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The painting displays a design element that is extremely prevalent and makes the image extremely great. Picasso uses asymmetry on the left side of background to lure the audience into a false sense of security and keep everyone off guard. Like in all of his works, he tries to paint something the audience hasn't seen. He does just that.

Humenent : Pottermore

This is a video of J.K. Rowling speaking about a new website experience, Pottermore. The video displays graphics of a book being designed through cut outs of the pages of the book to create other images. I think this is a very unique way to approach the 'humenent' idea that we have been talking about in class. In addition, the way that it was presented to the public was especially intriguing because it turned it into a digital, moving, object to tell the story that J.K. Rowling is talking us through.

Oh Isaac

Isaac Salazar-

Talk about some insane xacto usage! No formal art training just a kid with a book and a knife...

Here are the deets:

He began with simple letters and then moved on to increasingly more complex typefaces. Depending on the intricacy of the letters, each artwork takes anywhere from a day to two weeks each to complete, using only basic arithmetic and an exacto knife as he does. He derives his inspiration from the content of the material he is working with. For example, he carved a recycle symbol on Robert Lamb’s A World without Trees.

An advocate of alternative energy and recycling, he rarely uses new books, but opts instead for books that may otherwise go to waste. He cuts, folds, and slices carefully, so as to preserve the books’ integrity. Recently, he has ventured into logos and symbols—an area he would like to pursue further.

Historic Events as Repurposed Art

This sculpture made by two Cuban artists Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz is entirely made from old shirts.  The sparse use of color and near-symmetry are very powerful.  It's particularly fascinating, because I imagine it would be very difficult to build a sculpture using objects as big as shirts.  Each shirt would need to be very deliberately placed to give it the realistic aspect it undoubtedly achieves.

Francis Bacon

     Above is a self portrait painting by Francis Bacon. This particular self portrait stood out to me because of the many different perceptions the viewer can get. To some, it looks as though he's drunk or hungover. To others, it is a reference to life and death. Another way viewers, including myself, see the self portrait as something much more deep. Some think that his hidden wrist is bleeding into the sink from self mutilation. I think that (if that is the case) it is an extremely interesting concept and something you really have to look for, like the red in the outline of the bottom of the sink. 

     I also like the reflection behind him. It makes it appear as though he is ashamed of himself which adds more to the overall quality of the concept.