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)
Soon to be on display at the newly-constructed Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership in Washington, DC, this 34-foot pillar of literature includes over 15,000 unique titles about the United State’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The museum is set to open before President’s Day. (via this isn’t happiness, laura keene, gary erskine, my modern met)
Pennsylvania artist and designer Paula Swisher takes doodling in the margins of old engineering and science manuals to new heights. She began the illustrations using nothing but ballpoint pen and white-out similar to Mark Powell’s envelopes, but soon explored new materials including colored pencil, gouache and other mixed media like thread and cut-out paper. Via email she tells me:
I’ve been using scientific imagery and information graphics off and on in my work. I seem to be drawn to the contrived sense of order that they show. In the drawings mentioned, superimposing bird imagery, hopefully, creates a visual metaphor for our attempts to make sense of our experiences.
You can see dozens more of her bird artworks here. (via mark powell’s tumblog, through the window i could see the sun)
Colossal has seen its fair share of commendable book and paper work the last few weeks, but this was too good to pass up. UK-based artist Kyle Kirkpatrick constructs these wonderfully tiny dioramas using the topographies of carved books. Via the artist:
My practice is primarily concerned with the notion of the imagined landscape. I present man-made objects and natural materials simultaneously to form carefully and meticulously composed installation works. I capitalize on intrigue taking objects out of context reinventing their use, pushing the viewer to see beyond what I present before them, a glass could be interpreted as a lake or a metal bracket a cliff.
I don’t know about you but given the right disposable book (blasphemy!) I’d love to try making something like this. The first image and the vertical stack are photos by the artist, the rest are by Leo Reynolds and you can see even more work over on Saatchi Online. (via i want your lungs to stop working without me)
After organizing their own bookshelf earlier this year, Sean Ohlenkamp and wife Lisa re-doubled their efforts for Type Books in Toronto. After several sleepless nights of animating with a crew of over 20 people, the Joy of Books was born. Music composed especially for the short by Grayson Matthews. See many more books here. (via metafilter)
(click images for detail)
For the better part of three decades multidisciplinary artist Guy Laramee has worked as a stage writer, director, composer, a fabricator of musical instruments, a singer, sculptor, painter and writer. Among his sculptural works are two incredible series of carved book landscapes and structures entitled Biblios and The Great Wall, where the dense pages of old books are excavated to reveal serene mountains, plateaus, and ancient structures. Of these works he says:
So 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.
Laramee’s next show will be in April of 2012 at the Galerie d’Art d’Outremont in Montreal. (via kastormag)
My wife, who is the most amazing person on Earth, and a brilliant writer, has just written a book called Everyone Remain Calm. It’s a collection of short stories published by the Joyland imprint at ECW Press, and is now available on Amazon. It’s a wonderful read and you should definitely check it out if you enjoy things like laughing and feeling like a better person.
Artist Kristiina Lahde created this towering paper sculpture using delicately folded phone books. Aptly entitled Hive, the piece was on exhibition at the Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens in Ontario earlier this summer. This is the most practical use of a printed phone book I’ve seen in the last decade. (via jealous curator)
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© 2010-2013 Christopher Jobson, all rights reserved, 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. The Colossal logo and name Colossal are the trademarks of Christopher Jobson.
