By Emma Taggart, 2018
Mexican mixed media artist Jorge Méndez Blake transforms literature into sculpture with his latest piece of installation art, titled The Castle. At first glance, the piece appears as a normal brick wall, but a closer look reveals a subtle curved bulge in the middle of the 75-foot-long structure. As the eye moves down from the arched top, the viewer can see the culprit is a single book. Lodged in the mortarless wall’s foundation, between the floor and the first layer of bricks, is a copy of Franz Kafka’s The Castle.
With an architectural background and a life-long of love of books, Blake pays homage to Kafka by placing his novel at the base, so that it inflects the monumental red-brick structure. The author only ever wrote privately, and never intended his work to be published. It was only after his death that The Castle was published by a friend. Blake’s minimal approach reveals the power of a single book, and a metaphor for how a small idea can have a monumental effect.
Find more of Blake’s work on his website.
Mexican artist Jorge Méndez Blake pays homage to literature by incorporating a copy of Franz Kafka’s The Castle into his latest piece of installation art.
Balancing the entire brick wall, the book creates a bulge and curve in the centre of the 75 x 13 foot structure.
Blake’s minimal approach reveals the power of a single book, and a metaphor for how a small idea can have a monumental effect.
Jorge Méndez Blake: Website
h/t: [Colossal]
All images via Jorge Méndez Blake.