Video: Portraits from telephone directories by Alex Kverel
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In the home of artist Alex Queral, there are far more telephone directories than one person needs. And the point is not at all that he often calls a lot. He just really likes to create portraits, and the old reference books came up as a material for this work as well as possible.
“Once I was looking for wood for my future sculpture, and suddenly I noticed a stack of unnecessary reference books on the sidewalk. At that moment, I suddenly thought that it would be an excellent material for my work, - says Alex about the events of 14 years ago. - Every year, when a new telephone directory comes out, you ruthlessly throw away the previous one. I am sure that many of them end up for recycling, but at the same time, thousands of new directories are practically not used at all, because now it is much easier for people to find the number they need on the Internet. So, thanks to the artist, unnecessary phone books have found new, more creative uses.
Getting to work, Alex first draws a portrait of the person on a regular sheet of paper, which he uses as a template. Then the artist begins to meticulously cut page by page with a blade, creating a three-dimensional image, which he sometimes also paints with acrylics. This work does not recognize haste, so now, after more than 10 years of training, two portraits a month come out from under the blade of the master.
The author not only carves portraits of celebrities, but also puts a certain philosophical meaning into his work. Alex creates a picture of one famous person from the names of thousands of unknown people included in the directory - there is something symbolic about that, isn't it? He also enjoys turning things that normally become trash every year into pieces of art.
Alex Kverel is originally from Cuba, and now the 51-year-old artist lives in Philadelphia (USA).
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