[Image: “Webster’s New Inner Diction” (2007), by Brian Dettmer]

From Neil Gaiman’s Twitter feed, I learned of the artwork of Brian Dettmer. Dettmer uses surgical tools — scalpel, tweezers, and such — to dig down into books and other media (such as cassette tapes), revealing deep layers of what might or might not be meaning in the words and images therein.

From his “artist’s statement”:

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…

In this work I begin with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. I cut into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. I work with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories.

Besides books, Dettmer also works with maps, audiocassette tapes, VHS tapes, LPs… For the items of plastic, instead of carving or cutting them he sometimes melts and/or fuses them into new shapes, such as animal (or human) skulls. Regardless of medium, the results are both beautiful and a little disconcerting.

(That said, I can’t go so far as some of the commenters I’ve seen on other sites, who are appalled that he’s treating books so shabbily.)

Here’s a seven-minute interview with Dettmer, with lots more examples of his work:

The ultimate resource, unsurprisingly, is Dettmer’s home page itself. Scroll way down on the page to see all the images.

No word, as yet, on any plans in the offing for his vivisection of Kindles, Nooks, and/or iPads. Probably not for a few years, if ever; his focus seems to be on old media threatened (or already supplanted) by new.