# What a mind this sculptor must have **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944 "2011-02-28T17:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/1 "2011-02-28T17:59:00Z")
These [book carvings](http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-book-surgeon-15-pieces) are breathtaking. Not just in the brilliance of their execution, but in the original idea too. How on earth does someone come up with something so damn clever? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/2 "2011-02-28T18:29:05Z")
That’s awesome. Really, really cool stuff. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/3 "2011-02-28T18:37:58Z")
Phenomenol. Thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/4 "2011-02-28T20:15:13Z")
Not as impressive, but here is a guy who makes 3D art with…screws. You don’t realize they are 3D until you scroll down a bit and realize they have texture. [Portraits made of screws](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/02/portraits-made-of-screws-by-andrew.html) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/5 "2011-02-28T20:20:43Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > These [book carvings](http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-book-surgeon-15-pieces) are breathtaking. Not just in the brilliance of their execution, but in the original idea too. > > How on earth does someone come up with something so damn clever? Not the same artist but there’s an exhibit of book sculptures at the Albany (NY) Airport. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/6 "2011-03-01T00:23:32Z")
Mind-blowingly awesome! ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/7 "2011-03-01T02:45:56Z")
Those are amazing! I like the three sided book best. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Not as impressive, but here is a guy who makes 3D art with…screws. You don’t realize they are 3D until you scroll down a bit and realize they have texture. > > [Portraits made of screws](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/02/portraits-made-of-screws-by-andrew.html) I saw this guy just the other day. He was featured on the Artist of the Day widget. Very cool! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/8 "2011-03-01T03:22:08Z")
Reminds me of this, which someone just sent me: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/518XP8prwZo/hqdefault.jpg "Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation (Україна має талант / Ukraine's Got Talent)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo) As you (sort of) say, jjimm, both are an entirely new form for art. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/9 "2011-03-01T03:29:29Z")
I came in to make fun of something. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/10 "2011-03-01T03:47:43Z")
Another bit of neatness, called [Shimmer](http://www.woodthatworks.com/kinetic-sculptures/shimmer/). ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/11 "2011-03-01T03:57:45Z")
Indeed cool. [Here are](http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2006/10/ragtag-and-whimsy.html) a [couple](http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/04/09/book-sculptures/) [more](http://www.oddee.com/item_96884.aspx) [of](http://thedesignfiles.net/2008/04/interview-nicholas-jones/)such [artists](http://www.carabarer.com/portfolio/sculpture/), hope y’all will enjoy those too! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/12 "2011-03-01T04:11:02Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > Reminds me of this, which someone just sent me: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player\_embedded&v=518XP8prwZo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=518XP8prwZo) > > As you (sort of) say, jjimm, both are an entirely new form for art. That was AWESOME and deserves its own thread. It’s a sand sculptor/painter, unlike anything I’ve seen before. She makes paintings as beautiful as a Chagall, then changes them with a few strokes into another masterpiece, wipes them out and starts anew. Looks like a new viral video, and well deserved, too. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/13 "2011-03-01T07:33:44Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > That was AWESOME and deserves its own thread. It’s a sand sculptor/painter, unlike anything I’ve seen before. She makes paintings as beautiful as a Chagall, then changes them with a few strokes into another masterpiece, wipes them out and starts anew. Looks like a new viral video, and well deserved, too. IIRC, this was the interval show at the Eurovision Song Contest (or something similar) a few years ago. Her work has been used on a TV ad in the UK in the past couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/14 "2011-03-01T19:41:25Z")
The sculptures are amazing, but I can’t help but be appalled that actual books are being defaced and destroyed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sonnenstrahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/15 "2011-03-01T20:00:44Z")
Really? You say that’s defacing books? I’ve worked in a charity bookshop and it disabused me of the notion that each book is special and valuable pretty quickly - there are thousands and thousands of old books that no one will ever buy or read ever again, and out-of-date reference books like this artist uses top the list. (I imagine he chooses good quality ones, but I would think that there are so many that they’re not all worth much to collectors.) Now, if he did some art with old accounting and economics textbooks I’d love to see that. I have a hypothesis that those are the most worthless books on earth - always donated and never sold. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/16 "2011-03-01T21:10:29Z")
I think the art shows how the insides of books are magical. I think this art does a great service to books. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/17 "2011-03-01T21:36:38Z")
> [@Sonnenstrahl](#): > > Really? You say that’s defacing books? I’ve worked in a charity bookshop and it disabused me of the notion that each book is special and valuable pretty quickly - there are thousands and thousands of old books that no one will ever buy or read ever again, and out-of-date reference books like this artist uses top the list. (I imagine he chooses good quality ones, but I would think that there are so many that they’re not all worth much to collectors.) I didn’t say that my feeling was rational. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/18 "2011-03-01T21:48:22Z")
P.S. You know what his art actually reminds me of? Those human body exhibitions, in which human bodies are splayed open and plasticized. I thought those were neat at first, too, but now they bother me as well. Perhaps it is because I learned that, unlike medical school donors, not all of the donors actually consented to being put on display, but also because the tone of the exhibits seem somewhat disrespectful to and exploitative of the dead. These sculptures seem almost “disrespectful” to the books in question, and to the effort that went into writing them. Like I said, not a particularly rational thought. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/19 "2011-03-01T21:56:38Z")
Those book scuptures are about ten times more amazing than I thought they would be. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944/20 "2011-03-01T21:59:22Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Another bit of neatness, called [Shimmer](http://www.woodthatworks.com/kinetic-sculptures/shimmer/). Hypnotic! Wow, I checked out some of his other stuff under “portfolio” and “archives” and it is all pretty cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-mind-this-sculptor-must-have/572944.md?page=2)