The fine art of cracking old spines

Artists on the lookout for new materials are prepared tojudge a book by its cover, writes Ray Edgar. FOR anyone who has flinched at a dogeared page, winced at thecrack of a book's spine, or despaired at its ''defacement'' withmarginalia and signatures, the thought of applying a scalpel to abook is probably abhorrent. But in the digital age, as artists and designers question therole of this traditional form, the oncevenerated book is simplyanother material to create with. Artists including American BrianDettmer and Australian Nicholas Jones dissect books to reveal newmeaning in the content. Advertisement: Story continues below Australian designers Brydie Dyson and Samantha Parsons recyclesecondhand books as cheap but beautiful source material thatcomments on sustainability. The Australians' work will appear inCraft Hatch, during the Melbourne Writers Festival. At the forefront of this new movement is the AtlantabasedDettmer, who uses knives, tweezers, pliers and surgical tools tocut and extract text and images. After selecting a book, usuallynonfiction, for the requisite images and text, he then seals itand allows chance to play its role. "Nothing inside the books isrelocated or implanted, only removed," he says. "Images and ideasare revealed to expose a book's hidden, fragmented memory."Dettmer's carved book sculptures are like a threedimensionalversion of the surrealist game of exquisite corpse, trapped in aJoseph Cornell box. ''Book Autopsies", he calls them. Melbourne artist Nicholas Jones works in a similar manner. Forhis master's thesis Jones took two copies of the same book printedin different languages and wove them together as if the books werehaving a conversation. ''I like language games,'' he says. Jones created stigmata in a Webster's Dictionary by incising animprint of his left hand, cutting all the way Rosetta Stone Software down to the letter H,until the words ''holy father'', ''holy ghost'', ''holy spirit''were positioned into the middle of the palm. Understandably, the artists catch themselves every so oftenwhile sawing their tomes in half, or ripping the covers from thepaper blocks, and confess to feelings of naughtiness. ''To dosomething so invasive is disconcerting, but also appealing,'' saysJones. ''I've been doing it for 12 years now and it still feelslike I'm being a little bit naughty.'' By rights, such individuals should demonstrate all the signs ofa youth spent doodling on textbooks and underlining rude words indictionaries. Yet each testifies to bibliomania, an obsession withbooks that happens to involve collection, dissection andreincarnation in another form as art or design. Designer Samantha Parsons recycles books, transforming thehardback covers into screens and room dividers, pages into tables,and dustjackets into gift cards. Last year she won the Premier'sDesign Award for what the judges called ''the symbolism of thriftor reuse'' in her handmade ''Paul'' screen. Unlike the artists, Parsons is not concerned with the books'contents. She chooses the hardcover for its inherent hinge. ''I'mnot trying to make an artistic statement,'' she says. ''It's afunctional piece.'' Literally judging her books by their covers or rather thematerial of which the cover is made Parsons says her work is''all about composition, colour, text, graphic motifs. Books withpatina and wear have life and character and personality.'' Each screen is individual and has a different Christian name.''Paul'', for instance, is based on a Paul Klee composition. While it may seem simple to recycle secondhand books Parsons' largestscreens require 64 books that have to be physically andaesthetically suitable. She makes her screens exactly the same wayas a book cover, using bookbinder's skills to join them. Like Parsons, jeweller Brydie Dyson's explores questions ofsustainability in her designs. To create her Urchin necklaces,Dyson sews together pages from old children's books. Her choice ofmaterial evolved from being a student and using ''cheap, accessiblethings around me.

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