I look at them and think "what a horrible thing to do to a book! Nobody can read them now!"

I suppose that was my first reaction as well -- lovely but sad. I get nervous when I see somebody improperly bending the spine of a book, much less chopping it up for art.

It's always hard to see a book bite the dust, but it seems the books he used are ones that would end up in the trash anyway, as LV mentions below -

I've felt the same impulse upon seeing the ancient books people donate to the Friends of the Library bookstore. Much of the donations aren't of any use to anyone. They sell many of the books for 25 cents or less, and even then, they can't get rid of them fast enough, so anything less than worthy is tossed.

I adore this art, and would absolutely love a piece for my walls. Not only is it gorgeous and brilliant, it's a wonderful second life for a reference piece that's no longer useful. :snap:

Me too!

I think you got it just right CP and Libraryvixen, a second life. Much better than the trash bin, bonfire or shredder.

Now to find out where he sells and (gulp) how much one would be.

Yeah, I'm with CP and Vix on this one. I've seen a lot of books like these wind up in the garbage.

There's another craftsman who makes awesome purses out of old books. She usually uses books where the cover is in tact but the interior is damaged.

www.rebound-designs.com

Don't you feel bad cutting up all those books?

Not really. Most of these books were damaged or being thrown away to begin with, I don't cut up valuable books or books in fantastic condition. I take great care to find books that are already falling apart or are unwanted, like out of date textbooks.

That's fine, if your idea of a second life is as an autopsy.

But, hey, I do not want to make a bigger deal of this then is warranted but like the entrepreneur who wanted to buy up fine art in order to slice it up and sell it in little squares, "So everybody can own a piece of the great artists," it makes me uneasy. What can I say?

These aren't invaluable books, however. I'd be upset if he carved up a first edition of Moby Dick, or if he made a sculpture using the last known copy of something, but I don't think that's the case.

Whereas most fine art is one of a kind, and ripping it to shreds for entrepreneurial purposes is shameful. Unless it was a painting made in the 1980s, because most of those works are expendable. Heh. I kid.

I agree with you. And I like what the artist did, as well. I really do! I just get weird when it comes to books ...

I totally understand. I can be awfully weird about them, too. My stomach positively churns when I see books poorly cared for.

Art is inherently a destructive process - something must be destroyed or at least transformed to create something else