25 February 2015

Artist Turns Discarded Books Into Beautiful Crystalized Sculptures

To Kill A Mockingbird





San Francisco-based artist Alexis Arnold turns discarded and unwanted books into beautiful crystalized sculptures by dipping them into borax solution.



Rendering them unreadable, her ‘Crystalize Book Series’ addresses the “materiality of the book versus the text or content of the book, in addition to commenting on the vulnerability of the printed book”.



“The crystals remove the text and transform the books into aesthetic, non-functional objects. The books, frozen with crystal growth, have become artifacts or geologic specimens imbued with the history of time, use, and nostalgia,” said the artist on her website.



Arnold decided to embark on this project after discovering boxes of discarded books, the closing of bookstores, and the rise of electronic books.



Photoshop Manual







The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn







The Last of the Mohicans







In Cold Blood







The Two Towers





[via The Creators Project , images via Alexis Arnold]