Each face is often painted with a monochromatic wash to distinguish the portrait from the pages. He is known for portraits he carves from the bound pages of telephone books. Alex querals phone book art philadelphiabased artist alex queral has found a brilliant way to use all of the old, discarded phone books he found lying around. Jun 27, 20 art by others a collection of inspired works by artists other than myself call it free and unauthorized promotion. Apr 06, 2017 it may be wrong to judge a book by its cover, but many artists believe that books actually are more than mere reading material. Sculptor alex queral, 51, from philadelphia, has handcrafted some of the. Cuban american artist alex queral carves phonebooks to create these amazing portraits. Art, pics 51yearold alex queral carves phone books to create amazing portraits of celebrities such as clint eastwood.
Alex queral took discarded phone books and carved out 3d heads of famous people through thousands of pages with razor blades or an artists scalpel. Phone book carvings by alex queral book sculpture paper sculptures books art handmade books recycled art altered books book crafts installation art art lessons phone book pages netherlands 84, love the type used back then, gluestick, hand carved stamp, acrylic paint. Nov 23, 2010 portraits carved from phone books by artist alex queral. Taking an ordinary phone book, alex queral carves a face into this object of so many. Sculptor alex queral carves up phonebooks to create portraits. It all started many years back when he was looking for wood to make a sculpture and he noticed a huge pile of phone.
His choice of medium is quite unique, yet ordinary which results in threedimensional quality that enhances the portraits as an object as opposed to a picture. Alex queral started his artistic career as a professional jazz guitarist. Alex queral transforms the ordinary phone book into a creative piece of art, carving into its pages funny caricatures of famous people. Alex queral takes your old phonebooks and makes art. Awesome phone book carvings by alex queral beauty will save. Sculptor alex queral carves up phonebooks signal v. Artist creates famous faces from phone books telegraph artist alex queral carves amazingly detailed famous faces from phone books. Faces in the phone book by alex queral featured articles.
There have been many articles about alex queral, including phone book sculptures of pop culture icons written by caroline stanley for flavorwire in 2010. Ive always thought that it would be wonderful to give old books a second life. Alex specializes in creating celebrity images within phone books. Faces in the phone book by alex queral drawing inspiration. Join facebook to connect with alex queral and others you may know. Bean, and others xactoknifed from phone books, to the more freeform, abstract pulpy sculptures that jacqueline rush lee concocts. Better seen than described, art made from books is. Believe it or not, this portrait is carved, by artist alex queral, from an old phone book. Using a very sharp xacto knife also see the carvings of salavat fidai who works with the same knife, the artist creates an identity of so many faceless names that describe the size of an entire community. This is a creation by alex queral, born in 1958 in havana, cuba.
I found a few amazing examples of book sculptures, so i invite you to share the pictures of amazing book art as well. New artists have found fantastic ways to take an old book and tediously create a masterpiece. After more than a decade of following the wishes of his family, this cubanamerican decided to follow his heart. Fascinating phone book portraits by alice yoo on june 2, 2011 back in 1995, alex queral was just an undergraduate at the university of washington in seattle who loved to paint.
Alex queral carves celebrity faces into phone books. Faces in the phone book by alex queral ultima ll by nick pedersen. Home inspiration faces in the phone book by alex queral faces in the phone book by alex queral posted by. Instead of finding wood, he found a stack of discarded phonebooks. In this comprehensive collection of art made from books, we explore the myriad of ways that bibliophilic artists inventively transform works of literature into works of art. Artists around the world have lately been turning to their bookshelves for more than just a good read, opting to cut, paint, carve, stitch or otherwise transform the printed page into whole new beautiful, thoughtprovoking works of art. Being an art history major, i was curious to see if there were any artists making work out of phone books. With the book, a very sharp xacto knife, a little pot of acrylic medium to set detail areas and a great deal of talent, queral literally peels away the pages like the skin of an onion to reveal the portrait within.
How do book sculpture artists keep the pages intact. The emerging cubanborn artist alex queral has perfected the art of sculpting the likenesses of the dalai lama, ringo starr and endless other. Alex querals carved out phone book faces lost at e minor. Taking an ordinary phone book, alex queral carves a face into this object of so many faceless names. This is just about the only good use of a phone book i can think of. These amazingly detailed celebrity faces may look like sketches but they are in fact carved out of unwanted phone books. I have begun working on a sculpture carving into a stack of books to create a hollowed out cave like an image i saw online. A cubanamerican artist named alex queral carves threedimensional portraits of famous actors, politicians, artists, etc into phone books. Alex queral has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the projects gallery. Amazing phone book carvings by alex queral bored panda.
Alex queral has been carving and painting portraits, or phone book heads for several years. Cuban american artist alex querals sculptural heads, carved from. In carving and painting a head from a phone book directory, im. Phone book heads is the first solo show at projects gallery for artist alex queral. In a moment of inspiration, the man gathered the pile of printed pages and returned to his studio. I always thought that to destroy a book would be a waste, but these artists have drastically changed my perspective. Recycled crafts kids recycle crafts diy crafts phone books masks book art art projects arts and crafts statue. Post the most beautiful examples of book sculptures. Read the artist bio and gain a deeper understanding with mutualarts artist profile. Alex queral is a cubanamerican artist who has carved himself out a very unique place among his peers. Cuban american artist alex querals sculptural heads, carved from phonebooks elicit amazed reactions wherever they are shown. Unique offerings for the devoted book lover feature by. Alex queral s phone book art philadelphiabased artist alex queral has found a brilliant way to use all of the old, discarded phone books he found lying around.
Recycled telephone books are an artists canvas treehugger. So, maybe we should all send our phone books to alex queral, an artist who creates faces from carved phone book pages. In carving and painting a head from a phonebook directory, im. Tom boredpanda staff alex queral is a philadelphiabased artist who has found an incredible way to use old, discarded phone books he carves their pages into celebrities faces. Nov 24, 2009 recycled telephone books are an artists canvas. Cant stop wondering though if putting a face inside a phone book, makes it a face book. Alex queral puts the antiquated phone book to good use. Cuban american artist alex querals sculptural heads, carved from phonebooks elicit amazed reactions wherever they are shown a leading miami and philadelphia contemporary art gallery, featuring the works of margery amdur, ross bonfanti, craig cully, peter gourfain, frank hyder, florence putterman, alex queral, marcelo suaznabar, caleb weintraub, vivian wolovitz and many other fine artists. A lex queral transforms the ordinary phone book into a creative piece of art, carving into its pages funny caricatures of famous people. Through his 3d phonebook carvings, the artist aims to celebrate the individual who is lost in the anonymous list of the thousands of names printed in the directory. Art, pics 51yearold alex queral carves phonebooks to create amazing portraits of. Using a very sharp xacto knife cubanamerican artist alex queral carves phone books to shape 3dimensional portraits of popculture icons.
Peeling away the pages like the skin of an onion to reveal the. Oct 09, 2014 when its time to recycle your phone book, there are many things it can be upcycled into a wreath, earrings, and coasters, to name a few but weve yet to find anything more exquisite or mindboggling than the handcarved phone book portraits from philadelphiabased artist alex queral. Take a look at these great images of celebrities and unknowns alike in phone book form. They are heavy, take up a lot of space, and you get a new one every year, even though you can meanwhile find almost all the information in there online anyway. Its a perfect example how unusual use of materials can lead to worldwide fame and success. Philadelphia artist alex queral uses a unique yet ordinary medium to create his art a phone book. Some artists make it happen by turning old books, dictionaries and encyclopedias into admirable sculptures. Currently browsing incredible phone book sculpture by alex queral for your design inspiration. This phone book art by alex queral is a great way to utilize those phone books no one uses anymore. Unique offerings for the devoted book lover bookpage. Portraits carved from phone books by artist alex queral. My creative journey an the artists information company. I was out looking for wood to make a sculpture one.
Mar 26, 2016 with truecaller becoming the worlds leading place to search for numbers, paper phone books are not much use anymore. The phonebook carvings of alex queral by spooky onjune 17th, 2010 category. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Jun 02, 2011 fascinating phone book portraits by alice yoo on june 2, 2011 back in 1995, alex queral was just an undergraduate at the university of washington in seattle who loved to paint. The phone book carvings of alex queral by spooky onjune 17th, 2010 category. With the book, a very sharp xacto knife, a little pot of acrylic mediu. When its time to recycle your phone book, there are many things it can be upcycled into a wreath, earrings, and coasters, to name a few but weve yet to find anything more exquisite or mindboggling than the handcarved phone book portraits from philadelphiabased artist alex queral. Artist alex queral doesnt throw away his white pages.
Alex queral book carvings 1 jan 2016 cubanamerican artist alex. Find the latest shows, biography, and artworks for sale by alex queral. It looks as though alex touches up the sculpture after altering the phone book with a medium to give the images detail. Artist creates famous faces from phone books telegraph. It may be wrong to judge a book by its cover, but many artists believe that books actually are more than mere reading material.
Alex queral carves faces into books of faceless names, producing threedimensional portraits that reach deep within discarded phone books. Cubanamerican artist alex queral carves phone books to shape three dimensional portraits of popculture icons. For the last 19 years, alex queral has been carving portraits of famous people out of old phone books. Alex queral phone book heads may 6 28, 2005 projects gallery. Although the images provided in alex querals work seem more of a sketch artist feel, the detail within them is amazing. He then starts to cut the image into thousands of pages to make the image become 3d. Apr 24, 20 how do book sculpture artists keep the pages intact. Born in havana, in 1958, alex querals family migrated to mexico. For the last 19 years, alex queral has been carving portraits of famous people out of old phonebooks. Jul 11, 2014 alex queral is a cubanamerican artist who has carved himself out a very unique place among his peers. Alex queral is a philadelphiabased artist who has found an incredible way to use old, discarded phone books he carves their pages into celebrities faces. Italian artist, map art, altered books, contemporary artists, book art. Cubanborn artist alex queral creates these amazing artworks by taking to old telephone directories with a razor knife and some acrylic. Collection of creative and cool reuse of phone books from all over the world.
Philadelphiabased artist alex queral has found a brilliant way to use all of the old, discarded phone books he found lying around. Mar 15, 2015 instead of finding wood, he found a stack of discarded phone books. Discarded phone books become artists canvas as jack. Back in 1995, alex queral was just an undergraduate at the university of washington in seattle who loved to paint. Cubinian artist from philadelphia alex queral uses old and unwanted phone books for carvings. Alex querals choice of material is not so much the result of deep. Gehad elgalad on february 4, 2014 in inspiration leave a comment 2,265 views 0. Philadelphia artist alex queral has got a creative use of the old phone books. Most are famous faces like peewee herman and bob dylan.
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