A few weeks ago, while visiting Greenwich Market, I came across some beautiful Book Sculptures. I stopped to take a closer look and talk to Robert Robinson of Rokoro.
Bristol based Alexander Korzer Robinson creates unique art of works by literally carving discarded encyclopaedias and exposing their inner beauty. He carefully cuts into the pages, deciding which illustrations to show and which to cut away. The result is these breathtaking narrative scenes. The amazing part for me is that they look like they’re a build up collage, strategically placed. Wrong! All illustrations are left in the original sequence and it’s up to Korzer-Robinson to decide what makes the cut! That’s where the art lies.
Penrose Annual, 1950 Book Sculpture £400
Detail of Penrose Annual, 1950 Book Sculpture
These book sculptures are one-offs and I love how, through the artists’ cut outs, the books takes on a new form of storytelling that I could get lost in for hours.
Korzer-Robinson in his own words: ‘Through my work in the tradition of collage I am pursuing a very personal obsession of creating narrative scenarios in small format. By using antiquarian books, it makes the work simultaneously an exploration and a deconstruction of nostalgia.’
The Boy’s Own Annual, 1901 Book Sculpture
Ganter Hochrelief – Der Große Herder Book Sculpture
As Korzer-Robinson’s book sculptures are one off’s and with the according price tag, you can buy less expensive limited edition hand cut layered 3-D prints of some of the originals put together by Robert Robinson. The layers are printed in pigment ink on archival cotton rag and are fade resistant for over 100 years. It all gets framed in a wooden box frame and comes with an acrylic pane and is ready to hang.
A selection of these 3-D print artworks are now available to buy at Liberty’s. Apart from the 3-D print artworks, Rokoro also sells shadow boxes.
Detail of The ‘Other Alice’ shadow box series 2
Detail of The “Other Alice’ shadow box series 1
There is a real sense of nostalgia in these pieces and I would love to own one. If you’re in London and interested in Book Art, why not visit Beyond the Book: an exhibition of artists who use books as their medium. The exhibition is on until the 17th July and you’ll also find some of Alexander Korzer-Robinson’s book sculptures there.