Books reborn!
Nicholas Jones is an artist and “book sculptor” working in Melbourne, Australia. According to the personal testimonial on his website, Jones claims his art is an extension of the book’s life cycle, from wood pulp to paper to books, then elevated to some sort of higher plane and then to dust.
From the website:
Books are capsules; vessels designed to hold information, borne of investigation or of personal expression. These objects are often venerated, held aloft as are amulets, as the source of reasoned knowledge, the fecund field awaiting the harvest. Sequestered away in dusty libraries, spines anticipating the eye of the beholder, these books’ tactility remain at arms length. The physical act of folding, tearing and sewing book leaves, may be considered iconoclastic (extinguishing the fire of reason, perhaps). Although sometimes iconised for their content or historical importance, more often than not, books are discarded as cultural detritus. These transformed books aim to highlight the poetic nature of the book as form. As historical phenomena, books have reflected the evolution of mankind, and although beseiged by new technologies, the book remains steadfastly both the solver of the riddle and the creator of the labyrinth.
Earnest artistic credo aside, Jones’s books are quite beautiful. See MacBeth folded, Intermediate English dissected, and works in progress. See his new boots as well…
