Relentless

Artist Brian Dettner's take on a medium that to many begins to feel obsolete.

We recently had a look at a postmodern adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic Regency romance Pride and Prejudice, which brings to mind another closely related, and similarly bizarre personage - Brian Dettner.


Artist Brian Dettner’s medium of choice is once again literary, but his approach and reinterpretations take a different form. He intervenes in a rather more physical way, and the result is fittingly striking.

Using a scalpel, tweezers and the patience of a saint, the artist exposes the layered beauty that is expected, but never evident in a closed book. He exposes the internal architecture of ancient books, in a destructive act that produces quite visually pleasing results.
 The intertwining imagery lives in the context of a striking three-dimensionality - pages are now layers, flat images now gain perspective, and the page margins form a peculiar auditorium.