Brian Dettmer is work is post modern deconstruction at its best. Dettmer books are radically altered by slicing away parts of the book, page by page to reveal complex three-dimensional sculptures that suggest at alternate histories or faded memories. He calls this process reading “but in a visual and visceral way.” He never adds implants or re-locates anything only removes. “My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception.”
Dettmer starts by sealing a books edges to create a vessel full of undiscovered potential. Then in a hybrid of archaeology and surgery he takes exacto knives, tweezers, and surgical tools to carve down through layers of page time and history exposing layers of text and imagery cutting around that which is of interest. As he excavates never quite knowing what will appear next, he stabilizes the pages with varnish to give the work some rigidity.
Brian Dettmers artists statement reads
“The age of information in physical form is waning. As intangible routes thrive with quicker fluidity, material and history are being lost, slipping and eroding into the ether. Newer media swiftly flips forms, unrestricted by the weight of material and the responsibility of history. In the tangible world we are left with a frozen material but in the intangible world we may be left with nothing. History is lost as formats change from physical stability to digital distress."
"The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge. This is the area I currently operate in. Through meticulous excavation or concise alteration I edit or dissect communicative objects or systems such as books, maps, tapes and other media. The medium’s role transforms. Its content is recontextualized and new meanings or interpretations emerge.”
Brian Dettmer has just finished a solo show in New York at the Kinz and Tillou gallery, which I sadly missed.
If you want to see more of his work then check out his website, his work really is something else.
briandettmer.com
A.MUse
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