Brian Dettmer

Absolute Authority (2011) - Art Spec Collections Oversize, N 7433.4 .D48 A2 2011

In the tradition of Dada, Brian Dettmer embraces chance and the found object:

“I’m very strict about the rules of the processes I set up to make sure the existing material has a kind of a correspondence [that] I’m interacting with…  I can’t control what’s on the next page, I can only control how I react to it. The book is sealed and carving starts at the front, removing one layer at a time: I have no idea what is coming on the next page; it’s almost like reading with a knife… I can’t control everything I’m going to come across but I can react to it.”

Do It Yourself (2007) - Art Spec Collections, N 7433.4 .D48 D6 2011

He creates concrete poems, isolating words and phrases that emerge as he carves.

“A lot of my work is also about the way books dictate a linear path.  With the Internet – and even the way we remember things – it’s a more fractioned experience and a lot of nonlinear paths…”

All quotes are from Brian Dettmer - Remixed Media