Brian Dettmer

Brian Dettmer (born 1974) is an American contemporary artist. 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

Life and Early Work

Brian Dettmer, born in 1974, was raised in Naperville, Illinois. Until 2006, Dettmer lived in and around Chicago, where he earned a BA in fine arts from Columbia College Chicago in 1997. During school and following graduation, Dettmer worked in positions related to graphics and signage design. In 2006, Dettmer moved to Atlanta, where he works as a studio artist. (Brown 2008; Camper 2005).

Dettmer's early art work incorporated codes and language, such as 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. (Brown 2008; Camper 2005). In 2000, Dettmer began to experiment by gluing and cutting into books. (Brown 2008).

Recent Work

Dettmer's current work involves the alteration of preexisting media to transform the physical form and/or to selectively remove and reveal content to create new works of fine art. 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 conveyers 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. Dettmer seals, then cuts into older dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, science and engineering books, art books, medical guides, history books, atlases, comic books, wallpaper sample books, and others, exposing select images and text to create intricate three-dimensional derivative works that reveal new or alternative interpretations of the books. Dettmer never inserts or moves any of the books' contents. (Moayeri 2008). An early example of Dettmer's unique altered books is his 2003 work, "New International Dictionary" (pictured at right), which is an original 1947 unabridged dictionary sealed and carved by Dettmer to expose images within the dictionary (Sundell 2005, at pg. 70). In more recent work, Dettmer has augmented his artistic process by folding, bending, or rolling one or more books before sealing and cutting them or, in some instances, sanding them. Dettmer's 2008 work, "Mound 3" (pictured at right), is an example of a dictionary folded, cut, and sanded to resemble wood.

Other notable examples of media transformed by Dettmer include melted music cassette tapes formed into a life-sized human skeleton (Tyson 2007) and various animal skulls; carved and layered highway maps of the United States and the Middle East (Packer 2005) and other map sculptures; funeral flower arrangements formed with unraveled VHS videotapes of gangster movies; and a controversial reconfiguration of the audio from George W. Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address. (Feigly 2003).

Brian Dettmer's work has been published and exhibited widely around the world and is currently shown by a number of art galleries, including Kinz, Tillou + Feigen in New York, Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago, Toomey Tourell in San Francisco, MiTO in Barcelona, Romo Gallery in Atlanta, and Edward Day Gallery in Toronto. (Brown 2008).

References

* " [http://wearduringorangealert.blogspot.com/2007/11/artist-of-week_21.html Artist of the Week, Brian Dettmer] " (interview), "what to wear during an orange alert?", November 21, 2007. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
*" [http://www.ktfgallery.com/artists/brian_dettmer/?show=bio Brian Dettmer Bio] ", Kinz, Tillou + Feigen. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
*" [http://www.toomey-tourell.com/index.asp?/artists/united-states/brian-dettmer/?2007 Brian Dettmer: ReMixed Media] ", Toomey Tourell Gallery, July 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
* 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. “ [http://www.chicagoreader.com/pdf/051223/051223_nowshowing.pdf Reading is Incidental] ”, "Chicago Reader", December 23, 2005. Section 2, pg. 24. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
* Feaster, Felicia. " [http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/brian_dettmer/Content?oid=407114 Speakeasy with Brian Dettmer] " (interview), "Creative Loafing", February 6, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
* Feigly, Amy. “ [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658440846&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout Politics as Usual] ”, IslamOnline.net, August 30, 2003. Retrieved March 19, 2007.
* Moayeri, Lily. " [http://www.bpmmagazine.net/index.php/2008/07/brian-dettmer/ Brian Dettmer] ", " [http://www.bpmmagazine.net/ BPM Magazine] ", July 8, 2008. Retrieved July 20, 2008.
* Packer, Aron. “ [http://www.aronpacker.com/dettmer2/dettmer.html Brian Dettmer: Altered States (explorations in media modification)] ”, Packer Schopf Gallery, December 2005. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
* cite book
last = Sundell
first = Ivy
title = Living Artists
publisher = Crow Woods Publishing
year= 2005
id = ISBN 0966587146
* Tyson, Josh. “ [https://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles2/109/art_design/spine_surgery.xml 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. “ [http://glasstire.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=223&gtsect=Articles&gtcat=Review Review: Unit B (Gallery)] ”, "Glasstire", May 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2008.

Further reading

* Henninger, Kelsey. " [http://media.www.kentnewsnet.com/media/storage/paper867/news/2008/02/21/News/Guest.Speaker.Turns.Old.Books.Into.New.Art-3224617.shtml Guest Speaker Turns Old Books Into New Art] ", kentnewsnet.com, February 21, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
* Leaverton, Michael. " [http://bestof.sfweekly.com/2007-07-04/calendar/digging-into-a-good-book/ Digging Into a Good Book] ", "San Francisco Weekly", July 4, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
* Loerzel, Robert. "Artistic surgeries create unusual work", "Chicago News-Star", February 21, 2007. Retrieved March 19, 2007.
* Packer, Aron. “ [http://www.aronpacker.com/dettmer/dettmer.html Brian Dettmer: Book Work, Dissections and Excavations] ”, Packer Schopf Gallery, November 2003. Retrieved June 7, 2007.

External links

* [http://www.ktfgallery.com/artists/brian_dettmer/ Brian Dettmer] at Kinz, Tillou + Feigen
* [http://www.toomey-tourell.com/artists/brian-dettmer Brian Dettmer] at Toomey Tourell
* [http://www.packergallery.com/archive.html Packer Schopf Gallery]
* [http://www.mitobcn.com MiTO]