• 21 Jan




    Alex Queral is a Philadelphian sculptor best known for using old phone books to carve their pages into celebrities faces.

    Some of the celebrities he’s made sculptures of include Barack Obama, Jack Nicholson, Frida Kahlo and John Goodman.

    The process takes at least a couple of weeks to complete.

    He begins by sketching the famous person’s face on a piece of paper and laying it over the phone book, after that he uses a razor blade, patiently carving away at the thousands of pages that lie within phone book to create the 3D portrait.

    He then paints each face with a monochromatic wash to distinguish the portraits from the pages.

    Queral says that creating these portraits is a very tense process because it takes so long to do, and if you “cut something away you can’t get it back again.” Below you can check out 20 unbelievable examples of his carvings

    '


    Compiled exclusively for WDD by Zoe Ajiboye.

    What do you think of this type of art? Please share your thoughts below…




  • 45 Comments »

     
    #1
    Dan
    January 21st, 2010 at 20:59

    This is very cool

     
     
    #2
    Jack
    January 21st, 2010 at 21:23

    It seems that your eyes will feel unconfortable when looking at these very closely. From far away is better and really nice.

     
     
    #3
    App Sheriff
    January 21st, 2010 at 21:46

    Loving Barack Obama in it!….

     
     
    #4
    John G
    January 21st, 2010 at 21:48

    Man, he’s very patient. Very impressive.

     
     
    #5
    Evi Loveres
    January 21st, 2010 at 22:20

    It’s awesome too that he placed them so the picture matches where the celebrities’ name would be in the directory! (top right)

     
     
    #6
    Tom - Airopia
    January 21st, 2010 at 22:59

    That is so cool!!!!!

     
     
    #7
    CupidsToejam
    January 21st, 2010 at 23:00

    Alex, is such an amazing artist! Who ever thought to sculpt using phonebooks?

     
     
    #8
    Melody
    January 21st, 2010 at 23:23

    Is the second one Frida Kahlo?..She’s my favorite artist..I didn’t even realize how 3D the carvings were until passing the first two..Awesome work..I love when artists find their own unique mediums to work with..

     
     
    #9
    BoomSkins
    January 22nd, 2010 at 00:30

    Thats awesome. I wonder how he gets the pages to stay that have basically been carved away from the binding. Id like to see these in person for sure!

     
     
    #10
    Joseph S.
    January 22nd, 2010 at 00:40

    I thought these were some sort of convex intaglio before the sixth… I don’t understand how he is doing this is bas relief… what keeps the top bits from falling away?

     
     
    #11
    man
    January 22nd, 2010 at 04:58

    Glue?

     
     
    #12
    Jaz
    January 22nd, 2010 at 00:41

    truly awesome thanks for sharing! xx

     
     
    #13
    Zoe
    January 22nd, 2010 at 00:46

    omg that is very amazing

     
     
    #14
    John Watts
    January 22nd, 2010 at 02:47

    Wow, that is truly incredible dude! I mean serious stuff

     
     
    #15
    Nadine
    January 22nd, 2010 at 04:01

    I think that is amazing. Obviously the pages are lacquered together somehow, but to even think of such an art, that is truly unique. Love it!

     
     
    #16
    Gavin
    January 22nd, 2010 at 07:18

    I love this kind of art work, but I’m glad there’s a market for it. I only wish my local MoMA had more features like this. They tend to feature alternative art that is too abstract for my taste.

     
     
    #17
    webmaster921
    January 22nd, 2010 at 08:48

    Amazing That,s really interesting

     
     
    #18
    Justin Moore-Brown
    January 22nd, 2010 at 09:04

    HOLY CRAP! This is some of the coolest art ever. I’ve never thought of this type of art. Some people’s creativity just astounds me!

     
     
    #19
    i_alcocer
    January 22nd, 2010 at 10:39

    Ed Rusha in the 60’s did already that.

     
     
    #20
    michael
    January 22nd, 2010 at 11:56

    That’s really incredible! Can’t believe what kind of ideas people have ;-)
    Thanks for sharing!

     
     
    #21
    Naj
    January 22nd, 2010 at 13:20

    I imagine the pages are stuck together before he begins carving, maybe by soaking the book in water & PVA or something..I think it’s a very ingenious re-use of old phone books and very inspiring!

     
     
    #22
    Splashnology
    January 22nd, 2010 at 15:47

    Super 3d artworks, I love it.

     
     
    #23
    aledesign.it
    January 22nd, 2010 at 15:51

    So really nice…So cool! Great idea! Congratulations!

     
     
    #24
    insic
    January 22nd, 2010 at 18:47

    wow! how they made it possible? this is amazing!

     
     
    #25
    Jeffries
    January 22nd, 2010 at 20:26

    All democrats. What a waste.

     
     
    #26
    Kurt
    June 2nd, 2010 at 19:15

    lighten up francis.

     
     
    #27
    Abhilash M
    January 22nd, 2010 at 21:15

    unbelievable !! it’s true that all are political figures still we should appreciate the person or the team who did it.

     
     
    #28
    LaSt
    January 23rd, 2010 at 09:10

    Best use for phone books EVER!

     
     
    #29
    pesho
    January 24th, 2010 at 13:19

    thanks it’s so amazing

     
     
    #30
    Stacey
    January 26th, 2010 at 03:18

    Wow. How do you even do that?

     
     
    #31
    mark
    January 28th, 2010 at 18:47

    digital artwork looks great, but this one it’s awesome!… it takes pure talent, dedication and patience to accomplish one..

     
     
    #32
    mark
    January 28th, 2010 at 18:48

    oh by the way.. i forgot to include “weird” :)

     
     
    #33
    Selvam
    January 29th, 2010 at 21:56

    unbelievable carving….awesome…..

     
     
    #34
    Bethany
    January 31st, 2010 at 10:34

    This is really something… Amazing craftsmanship.

    *Since phonebooks are outdated within six months, this art could technically be considered creative recycling. :)

     
     
    #35
    Ricardo
    February 3rd, 2010 at 08:47

    you are one talented person! Thank you for sharing. Just one question…how long does it take you to do one?

     
     
    #36
    Brian
    February 4th, 2010 at 22:14

    What’s really cool is the fact that the page that’s solid show you who the image is. Look in the upper right corner at the page range information.

     
     
    #37
    MaunderingMe
    February 8th, 2010 at 19:35

    I love these! I actually saw a few of these in the airport (Philly) a few months back!

     
     
    #38
    Fernando F.
    March 17th, 2010 at 05:08

    unbelievable! amazing! really awesome!
    Why isn’t this shown on national TV is beyond me.
    So much garbage is shown hour after hour after hour.
    This is awe inspiring.

     
     
    #39
    Billy
    April 21st, 2010 at 00:12

    Ingenious work! very creative and original, great !!

     
     
    #40
    Donna Stone
    May 4th, 2010 at 19:23

    I dunno; it’s either bad art or bad talent when Willie Nelson looks mean-spirited and President Obama looks modest.

     
     
    #41
    Martin Lachapelle
    May 18th, 2010 at 16:45

    wow very impressive, pactience and lots of tallent, how much money could that cost…
    Bravo j’adore witch meens in french congrat’s i realy like it….

     
     
    #42
    CHiEF
    May 19th, 2010 at 22:21

    …amazing, but i’d like to see more shots from the side…

     
     
    #43
    nosoloSporting
    May 28th, 2010 at 02:46

    amazing… great photos and great job!!!!!!!!

     
     
    #44
    londogilak
    June 2nd, 2010 at 17:19

    OMFG you’re the man!

     
     
    #45
    Ricardo Jorge
    June 24th, 2010 at 10:10

    Very good. Should have more images from other perspectives

     
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