I recently received a pretty cool link to a page about a guy that took old books, and turned them into art. This caused a huge amount of crying and gnashing of teeth for some people, who think that books are absolutely precious, and should never be defaced under any circumstances.
That got me to thinking. When IS it okay to "deface" a book? Well, from the point of view of someone who sees a lot of pretty aged and ratty tomes come through the door because people simply don't have the stomach to send them to recycling, I'd say that there comes a time when a book needs to be given a dignified funeral (recycled), or a new life found for it. NEVER do I think it is okay to send a book to the dump. They are someone's lifework, and deserve more respect than that.
So, do I think it's okay to turn books into art? You bet! What a wonderful way to honor them when they have reached the end of their useful life! How inspiring and heartening to think that something that gave pleasure in its first life will continue to give pleasure for a long time to come. I would so much rather see my favorite books turned into sculpture, than to see them sent to recycling and turned into tar paper, or be put into someone's basement or garage and become nasty, smelly and moldy.
One of my favorite "altered book" artists is Brian Dettmer. What he does with a book will knock your socks off! http://briandettmer.com/
And this is some great work by Isaac Salazar:
http://www.rockingfacts.com/3d-art-made-with-recycled-books/
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