Brian Dettmer: Book Dissections

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BRIAN DETTMER IS AN ARTIST WHO LOOKS AT A BOOK, OR SET OF OBSOLETE BOOKS, as a personal excavation into what lays within. Like an archeologist at work on a historical site, Dettmer carefully exposes one layer at a time while discarding the detritus. And in our 21st century “age of information” Dettmer’s approach to “revealing” information is refreshingly original. I compare Dettmer’s work to that of the great collage and assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903 - 1972), who, in his reclusive and private world, created boxes of visual discovery not unlike that of today’s Brian Dettmer.

Brian Dettmer was born in Chicago in 1974 and currently lives and works in Atlanta. He received his BA in Art and Design/Art History from Columbia College. He is currently represented by Packer Schopf in Chicago, Kinz + Tillou Fine Art in New York, Toomey Tourell in San Francisco, and MiTO Gallery in Barcelona. Dettmer’s work has been shown in several museums, universities, and art centers throughout the country, including the International Museum of Surgical Science, the Bellevue Arts Museum, the Rockford Art Museum, the Illinois State Museums in Chicago and Springfield, the Kohler Arts Center, and the Hyde Park Art Center.