Inside Knowledge: Book Sculptures by Brian Dettmer

American artist Brian Dettmer transforms discarded books into intricate sculptures, carving directly into their pages to reveal dense compositions of images, diagrams and text hidden within. Using scalpels, tweezers and other fine tools, he carefully removes layers of paper without rearranging the original material, exposing fragments that form unexpected visual narratives embedded in the printed page.

Brian often works with outdated encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries and other reference books, objects that once served as repositories of knowledge but have gradually fallen out of use in the digital era. His process involves slicing into their interiors and stabilizing the remaining paper with varnish, turning these dense volumes into relief sculptures, architectural forms and layered assemblages where diagrams, illustrations and typography collide. Each sculpture becomes a cross-section of accumulated knowledge, compressed into a single object.

For more of Brian Dettmer’s work, visit his website.

More art on the grid via Colossal