Brian Dettmer (born 1974) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

contemporary artist Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art i ...

. He is noted for his alteration of preexisting media—such as old books, maps, record albums, and cassette tapes—to create new, transformed works of visual fine art.

Life and art

Dettmer was born and raised in

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in 1974. Until 2006, he lived in and around

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where he earned a BA in fine arts from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

in 1997. During school and following graduation, Dettmer worked as an artist and in positions related to graphics and signage design. In 2006, Dettmer moved with his wife to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where he worked as a studio artist. (Brown 2008; Camper 2005). In 2013, Dettmer and his family relocated to New York City, where he continues his work today.

Early work

As a student, Dettmer focused primarily on painting. When he began to work in a sign shop, his work began to explore the relationship between text, images, language, and codes, including paintings based on braille, Morse Code, and American Sign Language. He then began to make work by repeatedly pasting newspapers and book pages to canvas and tearing off pieces, leaving behind layered fragments. (Sasaki 2009; Brown 2008; Camper 2005). In 2000, Dettmer started to experiment by gluing and cutting into books, the medium for which he is now best known. (Brown 2008).

Recent work

Brian Dettmer Artwork of Life and Times of Tristram Shandy - rear view

Dettmer's current work involves the appropriation and alteration of media to transform the physical form and/or to selectively remove and reveal content to create new works of

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

. Dettmer explains: "Old books, records, tapes, maps, and other media frequently fall into a realm that too much of today's art occupies. Their intended role has decreased or deceased and they often exist simply as symbols of the ideas they represent rather than true conveyors of content. … When an object's intended function is fleeting, the necessity for a new approach to its form and content arises." (Valdez 2006). A large body of Dettmer's current work is created by altering

books A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

, including older dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, science and engineering books, art books, medical guides, history books, atlases, comic books, wallpaper sample books, and others. Dettmer seals and cuts into the books, exposing select images and text to create intricate three-dimensional

derivative works In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of a first, previously created original work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent from t ...

that reveal new or alternative interpretations of the books. Dettmer never inserts or moves any of the books' contents. (Moayeri 2008). This process is performed without pre-planning or mapping out the contents before cutting into the book. (Cullum 2010). As he cuts away unwanted material with knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Dettmer stabilizes the remaining paper with a varnish. (Fox 2009). An early example of Dettmer's

altered book An altered book is a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning. An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and modifies it in any ...

s is his 2003 work, ''New International Dictionary'', an original 1947 unabridged dictionary sealed and cut to expose images within the dictionary (Sundell 2005, at pg. 70). Dettmer has subsequently augmented his process by folding, bending, rolling, or stacking one or more books before sealing and cutting them or, in some instances, sanding them to create a variety of forms. Dettmer has also constructed larger sculptures using complete sets of encyclopedias and other reference books. Other notable examples of media transformed by Dettmer include music

cassette tapes Cassette, also known as cassette tape, refers to a small plastic unit containing a length of magnetic tape on two reels. The design was created to replicate the way a reel-to-reel machine works with tape moving from one reel to another while bein ...

melted and formed into a life-sized human

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

(Tyson 2007) and various animal skulls; cut and layered highway

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

s of the United States and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

(Packer 2005) and three-dimensional map sculptures; VHS videotapes of gangster movies unraveled and formed into funeral flower arrangements; and a controversial reconfiguration of audio excerpts from

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

's 2002

State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of most calendar years on the current condit ...

. (Feigly 2003). Brian Dettmer's work has been published and exhibited widely in museums, art centers, and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian (Washington D.C.),

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...

(New York),

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, marketed as ''Virginia MOCA'', is a non-collecting contemporary art museum and community art center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, widely known for its annual Boardwalk Art Show. Virginia MOCA itself evol ...

(Virginia), Museum of Contemporary Art (Georgia), Museum Rijswijh (Netherlands),

Wellcome Collection Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, England, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the W ...

(United Kingdom), the Bellevue Arts Museum (Washington), The Kohler Arts Center (Wisconsin), the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

(Florida), and the

Illinois State Museum The Illinois State Museum features the life, land, people and art of the State of Illinois. In addition to natural history exhibits, the main museum in Springfield focuses on the state's cultural and artistic heritage. Exhibits include local foss ...

(Illinois). His work can be found in public and private collections in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

References

*
Artist of the Week, Brian Dettmer
(interview), ''what to wear during an orange alert?'', November 21, 2007. Retrieved February 21, 2008. *
Brian Dettmer, Altered State of the Art
(video interview), Gestalten.tv, March 4, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009. *
Brian Dettmer Bio
, Kinz + Tillou Fine Art. Retrieved December 5, 2008. * Brown, Ellen Firsching. "The Cut-up Artist", ''Fine Books & Collections'', No. 33, May/June 2008. * Cain, Amina. "The Inner Light, Brian Dettmer: Visual Art 'DJ'", ''CAC Newspaper'', June 2006. * Camper, Fred.
Reading is Incidental
, ''Chicago Reader'', December 23, 2005. Section 2, pg. 24. Retrieved April 15, 2007. * Cullum, Jerry.
Review: Brian Dettmer digs deep in altered books at Saltworks
, ''ArtscriticATL.com'', December 19, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2011. * Essmaker, Tina.
Brian Dettmer
, ''The Great Discontent'', July 31, 2012. * Feaster, Felicia.
Speakeasy with Brian Dettmer
(interview), ''Creative Loafing'', February 6, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2008. * Feigly, Amy.
Politics as Usual
, IslamOnline.net, August 30, 2003. Retrieved March 19, 2007. * Fox, Catherine.

, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', July 3, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2009. * Moayeri, Lily.
Brian Dettmer
,
BPM Magazine
', July 8, 2008. Retrieved July 20, 2008.

October 30, 2008. Retrieved October 30, 2008. * Packer, Aron.
Brian Dettmer: Altered States (explorations in media modification)
, Packer Schopf Gallery, December 2005. Retrieved August 7, 2012. * Raymunt, Monica.
From Trash to Treasure: Turning Discarded Books Into Art
,
The Atlantic
', October 27, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010. * * Sasaki, Arata.
Interview with Brian Dettmer
, HITSPAPER, 2009. Retrieved on July 8, 2009. * Tyson, Josh.
Spine Surgery, Brian Dettmer's dissected books morph into sculptures
, ''Time Out Chicago'', Issue 109: March 29 – April 4, 2007. Retrieved on March 29, 2007. * Valdez, Michelle Gonzalez.
Review: Unit B (Gallery)
, ''Glasstire'', May 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2008.

External links

*
Brian Dettmer's Flickr gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dettmer, Brian 1974 births Living people American book artists American contemporary artists Columbia College Chicago alumni Artists from Chicago

Life and art

Early work

Recent work

References

Further reading

External links