mountaineer

Tectonic from Guy Laramee's Biblios series

OK, my book nerd ears perk up like whoa when I hear tell of jaw-dropping book sculpture. And Guy Laramee has
jaw-dropping book sculpture in spades. I feel like I'm peering in a secret world. Totally epic and immense and moody.
I adore it. And the way lighting is used in these sculptures is just phenomenal, wouldn't you agree?

detail from The Grand Library

book people from the Biblios series

jades from The Great Wall series

historia das americas (2009), from The Great Wall series

Here's what Laramee has to say about his work:

"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." 

You should definitely check out Guy Laramee's website here. 
And in the interest of giving credit where credit is due: StumbleUpon led me to Visual News, which led me to
Benjamin Starr, who clued me in to Laramee. Benjamin Starr's Visual News post on Laramee may be found here.

And just for you: Guy Laramee bonus art!

The Wreck of Hope, a 3D rendition of Caspar David Friedrich's painting of the same name.

If you only knew how many of my teenage sighs were expelled poring over books on Friedrich's work;
it was so darkly romantic, just like a Bronte novel. Seek out Wanderer above a Sea of Fog. Le sigh. 

The Sea of Ice (also called The Wreck of Hope), 1823/24, Caspar David Friedrich, or auf Deustch Das Eismeer
You can learn more about Caspar David Friedrich by visiting the Hamburger Kunsthalle here.

All images by Guy Laramee, except the last which is, of course, by Caspar David Friedrich.