Colourful cut-out card illustrations by Eiko Ojala

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Tree of Codes: re-inscription as a generative compositional technique

Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Tree of Codes' (2010) "is actually a kind of interactive paper-sculpture: Foer and his collaborators at Die Keure in Belgium took the pages of another book, Bruno Schulz's The Street of Crocodiles, and literally carved a brand new story out of them using a die-cut technique.

According to Foer's publisher Visual Editions, Tree of Codes was turned down by every printer they approached: 'Their stock line [was], 'the book you want to make just cannot be made'.'…

The luscious results, designed by Sara de Bondt, will fly in the face of anyone who says that physical books are passé. Tree of Codes is tactile, interactive, immersive--and it won't ever run out of batteries."

(John Pavlus, Co.Design)

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Su Blackwell: paper craft dioramas of childhood wonder and anxiety

"I often work within the realm of fairy-tales and folk-lore. I began making a series of book-sculpture, cutting-out images from old books to create three-dimensional diorama's, and displaying them inside wooden boxes. ...

For the cut-out illustrations, I tend to lean towards young-girl characters, placing them in haunting, fragile settings, expressing the vulnerability of childhood, while also conveying a sense of childhood anxiety and wonder. There is a quiet melancholy in the work, depicted in the material used, and choice of subtle colour."

(Su Blackwell)

Fig.1 Su Blackwell (2008). "The Girl in the Wood" [http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/portfolio-book-cut-sculpture/]

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Johnny I Can't Walk the Line: an animated paper music video

Tunnel box miniature theatre of garden scene with dancers

"Title devised by cataloger. The set includes six hand-colored etched prints on light gray laid paper, with sections carefully cut out to create a perspective view when the prints are arranged in a viewing box. The prints are numbered 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, and 378. The set number (56) appears on print no. 378; the prints are otherwise without text.

Attributed to the engraver and print-seller Martin Engelbrecht of Augsburg, Germany. Artists Jeremias Wachsmuth or David Nessenthaler may have collaborated on the illustrations."

(Smithsonian Institution)

Fig. 1 Martin Engelbrecht [Garden scene with dancers, to be used as the set for a miniature theatre]

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