I spend so much time in front of screens doing my work that sometimes I yearn for different tactile experiences. I'm not eager to be a paper pusher by any means, but I thought for this weeks' Friday Props I'd do a theme to honor those folks who do crazy cool things with paper. Join me in giving accolades for these astounding projects and their creators!

Phone Books are so 80's

But turning phone books into works of three dimension carved portraits? Timeless and way cool. Props going out to Alex Queral for his Phone Book Carvings.  Queral uses an X-ACTO knife, an acrylic medium and a black wash - nothing more. His work uses phone books which are (of course) destined to be thrown away and makes them worth keeping again. He creates portraits of famous people as well as abstracts. Visit a gallery of his work  for more examples.  You'll find many that you recognize and I promise it will blow your mind.  

Is This Even Possible!?

I can fold a couple varieties of paper airplanes and with the help of a book I can even do some very basic origami. But Simon Schubert gets Props for his paper building made by folding paper. There is no better word than haunting to describe the effect. The folds create scenes by catching the light with tiny changes in the surface of the paper - it's simply beautiful.  The illusions he creates are fascinating. Check out the link to his gallery above - you will not be disappointed.      

Miniature Cities

Whereas Schubert creates eerie buildings,  Evol uses stencils and found items to create miniature cities on municipal utility boxes, concrete bunkers and other public works. These works are so rich in detail and so highly evocative they often cause passerby to stop and take notice - long, curious, thoughtful notice. Some of his streetscapes are made from reclaimed cardboard and metal scraps while others are purely stencil work. Props for the the miniaturist cardboard paper cities.