Guy Laramée Turns Discarded Titles Into Majestic Landscapes

Canadian artist Guy Laramée has created works in various disciplines over the course of his impressive 30-year career, including writing and directing for theatre, music composing, instrument design, video, installation, and painting, as well as a wonderful series of sculptures made of vintage books. Laramée gives old discarded encyclopedias, dictionaries, and secondhand novels a new life by carving them into magical landscapes that rival the best nature photographs in the world.

Carving old titles into majestic mountain ranges, luscious green valleys, and sloping waterways

Laramée has an incredible ability to excavate majestic mountain ranges, luscious green valleys, and sloping waterways from old, discarded books. With the help of a sandblaster, the artist carves the shapes and forms recognizable from areal or satellite photographs of the earth, into a single title, or a stack of old dictionaries. The detailed work is made with oil paints, inks, pigments, and dry pastels, crayons, adhesives, and beeswax, giving the landscape a realistic look –  one that easily fools us into believing it’s the real thing! 

Drawing inspiration from the places he’s visited, Laramée’s work showcases the most dramatic, striking curves and crannies of earth’s surface, focusing on replicating and drawing attention to the erosion of the land “since it represents the changes that ultimately occur as time goes by”, the artist says.

With the help of a sandblaster, the artist carves the shapes and forms recognizable from areal or satellite photographs of the earth, into a single title, or a stack of old dictionaries. The detailed work is made with oil paints, inks, pigments, and dry pastels, crayons, adhesives, and beeswax, giving the sculpture a realistic – one that easily fools us into believing it’s the real thing!

Are you as enchanted with Laramèes sculptural work than we are, and which one below is your favorite? Watch the video in the end that showcases the work in detailed closeups. We have one word. Breathtaking!

For more paper art and illustration inspiration, read our previous articles Paper Art by Miriam Fitzgerald Juskova Inspired by Mathematics and Calvin Nicholls Turns Fine Papers Into Low Relief Sculptures.