Shane Cooper
Littleton, Colorado
Shanes been a life long artist dabbling in mediums from wood to paper, plastic and metal, but carving books has become an obsession!
MessageBorn in southern Texas, Shane now resides in the Denver, Colorado suburbs with his wife of 36 years and two adorable jet-black cats.
After a career spanning thirty-five years, moving from graphic artist in publishing to prepress specialist in print advertising, Shane has had an illustrious corporate career. After print advertising wained, Shane shifted his focus to various technologies as a technical sales engineer, ending his corporate life working in cybersecurity.
Always prone to artistic endeavors through the years, Shane is now focusing on the passion he’s been perfecting for fifteen years in his spare time, carving books into works of art. Taking old discarded books with zero to no value, he spends time in the studio, transforming them from dusty blocks of paper into unique works that expose images, diagrams, and phrases. Revitalizing these once-unused tomes provides them with new inspiration and renewed life.
Shane’s work can be found at https://www.shanescarvedbooks.com , at D'Art Gallery in the Santa Fe Art District, and in the Rox Arts Gallery in Littleton, Colorado.
Statement
My work is an expression of how life happens. I take these old valueless books that once were used for reference and seal them with NuetralPH adhesive designed for bookmaking. Like life, I dive into the unknown, searching for imagery, phrases, or diagrams that I find interesting. Many aspects, like our daily journey into a career, family, or society, result in frustration or happiness. There are many times I work through the depths with anticipation, only to be frustrated or work with what I find. Often, the results are a joy as I discover something unique, unexpected, or beautiful.
Like the span of my past career, working with sealed books with a general subject but unknown expectations, the results often present themselves as happy accidents. As I started my journey in life, rudderless and without direction, I started new projects similarly. Not fully aware of what I’ll find, the journey of discovery is as much of the enjoyment in this medium as the results.
Most of the final pieces culminate in discovery, frustration, and delight. With unbound time comes freedom, which is now more expressed in my work. Most of my earlier work was focused on discovery, not pushing past the initial imagery, much like a youngster accepting their first position, job, or assignment. Going deeper into the work has more depth to the final piece; if something isn’t working, I find the freedom to punch through.
Each work of art I create is bespoke and unique, and no two are alike in subject, expression, or discovery method. My technique is to work with scalpels, cut into each page by page, and sliver by sliver until I’m satisfied with a three-dimensional expression that speaks to the world.
Media/Books statement
All books used in any of my art have been painstakingly verified to be of no value other than the art itself. As a former graphic artist starting my career in the print industry, I appreciate the printed page and the book-making process. As an avid reader who appreciates what it takes to write and publish, Shane would never intentionally destroy a valued piece of printed history. All books are typically old reference books, medical journals, picture books, encyclopedias, and other mass-produced publications that would have zero value.
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