Influential children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, creator of Where the Wild Things Are, has died. You can find his obituary on the New York Times. This is such a sad day and a great loss. Do yourself a favor and watch his interview on the Colbert Report (parts 1 and 2 above), he was a witty, delightful curmudgeon up until his last days.
I’m really enjoying this collection of bugs painted on book covers by Bristol-based artist Rose Sanderson. See more and read a brief interview over on Daily DuJour.
I’ve been wanting to post the work of Michigan-based book artist Thomas Allen for well over a year and was thrilled to see some recently posted works. Allen creates vivid illustrations using figures cut and folded from old books. If you haven’t seen some of his earlier pieces made from vintage pulp fiction novels, head on over to Foley Gallery for a real treat. (via super punch)
Home is a recent sculptural installation by Colombian artist Miler Lagos. The piece was constructed at MagnanMetz Gallery late last year using carefully stacked books to create a compact dome that is entirely self-supporting. (via chris moore, thanks megan)
Knob Creek Metal Arts has a really great collection of bookends for sale over on Etsy, the visuals are just fantastic. (via lustik)
Sorry for the somewhat sporadic posting lately folks, things have been a bit more hectic than usual lately. Posting should be a bit more frequent starting very soon!
Throne: The Book of Revelation; letters cut from the Koran, 44.5 x 30 in, 2012
Throne: The Book of Revelation (detail); letters cut from the Koran, 44.5 x 30 in, 2012
Throne: The Book of Revelation (detail); letters cut from the Koran, 44.5 x 30 in, 2012
Bliss; letters cut from the Koran, 9 x 7.75 in, 2011
Bliss (detail); letters cut from the Koran, 9 x 7.75 in, 2011
The Satanic Verses: “Repentance” from the Koran; letters cut from “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie, 21 x 19 in, 2012
The Satanic Verses: “Repentance” from the Koran (detail); letters cut from “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie, 21 x 19 in, 2012
Artist Meg Hitchock (previously) has completed a number of new, elaborate collage works with letters cut from assorted books including the Koran and Salmon Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The patience required to assemble these absolutely astounds me. If you’re unfamiliar with her work here’s a quote from her artist statement:
In my text drawings I deconstruct the word of God by cutting letters from sacred writings and rearranging them to form a passage from another holy book. I may cut letters from the Bible and reassemble them as a passage from the Koran, or use letters cut from the Torah to recreate an ancient Tantric text. The individual letters are glued to the paper in a continuous line of type, without spaces or punctuation, in order to discourage a literal reading of the text. By bringing together the sacred writings of diverse traditions, I create a visual tapestry of inspired writings, all pointing beyond specifics to the universal need for connection with something greater than oneself.
If you’d like to see some of these pieces up close, Hitchcock currently has work on view all over New York at ACA Galleries, BRIC Contemporary Art and Shick Art Gallery at Skidmore College.
I just spotted this new work-in-progress by one of my favorite artists Maskull Lasserre (previously). Incarnate (Three Degrees of Certainty II) is nearly perfect rendering of a human skull from a thick stack of outdated computer manuals. Looking at these particular titles I can’t help but think these books have been called to a much higher purpose.
Loaded with visual references to the writing of Franz Kafka and Hunter S. Thompson this incredibly slick animation was created by String Theory for online bookseller Good Books International that donates 100% of its profits to Oxfam. There’s another version including narration of Hunter S. Thompson that probably explains the visuals a bit better, but I personally found it a bit distracting. (via vimeo)
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Copyright © 2010-2012 Christopher Jobson unless otherwise noted. I try my best to attribute images, videos, and quotes to their creators and original sources. If you see something on Colossal that's misattributed or you would like removed, please contact me. For more visual fun, see the visual archive.
