Brian Dettmer

Art Brokerage: Brian Dettmer American Artist: b. 1974. Brian Dettmer transforms antique books into ornate sculptures that serve as portals into fantastic worlds. His layered dioramas engage with the pages, spines, and covers of his sourced material. The Hermann Geiger Foundation in Cecina, Italy mounted a 10-year retrospective of Dettmer's creations in 2014, which include towering, large-scale works made from composites of these scavenged books. Dettmer began experimenting with books in 2000 as a means of breathing new life into physical forms threatened by digital technology. Armed with an X-Acto knife and tweezers, he carves into pages, drawing inspiration from the contents of these tomes but ultimately forming new stories. While best known for his book sculptures, Dettmer has similarly excavated and reshaped old media like cassette tapes and record albums. His works are collected by museums like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Listings wanted.