Brian Dettmer | In·Formation | December 14, 2025 - January 24, 2026
American English, 2023, Hardcover book, acrylic varnish, 10 x 12.5 x 3 inches
Opening Reception: Sunday, December 14, 2025, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Please join us afterwards for a private cocktail hour at the Quincy Street Distillery
Exhibition Dates: December 14, 2025 - January 24, 2026
Exhibition on view: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 PM, closed holidays
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 10, 2026, 2:00 PM
The Riverside Arts Center’s Freeark Gallery is pleased to present In·Formation, an exhibition of Brian Dettmer sculpture curated by Jeremy Black. Please join us for an opening reception on Sunday, December 14, 2025 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM followed by a private cocktail hour across the street at the Quincy Street Distillery. An artist talk will be held Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 2:00 PM. The exhibition will be on view Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1:00 - 5:00 PM through January 24, 2026.
Brian Dettmer In the News:
Colossal: Meticulously Sculpted Books by Brian Dettmer Explore the Inner Workings of Information by Kate Mothes
Click here to read the article
StupidDope: Brian Dettmer’s “In·Formation” and the Afterlife of the Printed Book by Jesse James
Click here to read the article
My Modern Met: Reference Books Are Carved and Cut Into Sculptures That Transform Knowledge Into Art by Sage Helene
Click here to read the article
The Annals of America, 2022, Hardcover books, acrylic varnish, 31.5 x 29.5 x 4 inches
The Riverside Arts Center is proud to present In·Formation, an exhibition of contemporary works by Riverside based artist Brian Dettmer. Known for his intricate, sculptural approach to repurposing printed media, Dettmer’s works continue his exploration of vintage printed documentation and the manipulation of information that lies within.
Dettmer’s method is profoundly meticulous. Through a series of carefully executed cuts, the artist carves into the pages of books, encyclopedias, atlases, and other printed works, revealing and transforming the printed content into sculptural objects. There is a randomness to what is revealed, followed by the thoughtfulness of what should remain. With each incision, Dettmer strips away layers to expose previously hidden texts and images, often editing the material and assembling it with his own vernacular that suggests new information.
Through his Coronet series, the artist has created works that can be consumed as collage but were created quite differently through the excavation of printed material from a selection of 1950’s printed digest magazines. While the Coronet series incorporates both image and text, Dettmer has also created works strictly using image with a thoughtful triptych excavating a series of art texts on American Impressionism. The entanglement of recognizable portions of famous paintings creates a new work silhouetted by the book itself.
These new works are a pleasure to witness in person; the intricacies of these sculptural pieces beg the viewer to observe at close range. Dettmer’s process is unique, and the work asks important questions of the viewer. I am excited to have curated this exhibition and encourage viewers to personally experience these original works.
–Jeremy Black, curator
The New American, 2021, Hardcover book, acrylic varnish, 6.75 x 4.125 x 1.875 inches
Information is the raw material of today. We have an overabundance of text and imagery constantly at our fingertips. In digital media, it is often as fleeting as it is abundant, but when information is put in print we have a stronger sense of its relation to history and its stability for the future. In my work, I question this stability and ask what erasure and loss could look like through the lens of printed matter. Reference books have become almost extinct in less than one generation and we are at a pivotal time in the way we record and distribute facts. Without a stable home to rest in, our agreed truths have been uprooted and are now subject to distortions, erasures, and intentional manipulations.
Through a meticulous process of sculptural excavation, I explore the inner contents of vintage books that have often been relegated to collecting dust or headed for a landfill. The work is both archival and anti-archival. It is a creation through consumption, an exposure through erasure. These sculptures break down historic narratives to offer a compression of ideas through a single surface, embracing us with a desire to reconstruct. This abundance of fragmented history reminds us that we are just one part of the bigger picture, as fleeting as the media we create and as permanent as the ideas we surround ourselves with.
–Brian Dettmer
America I Press On, 2025, Hardcover book, archival varnish, 14.5 x 10.5 x .75 inches
Brian Dettmer is one of the leading contemporary artists working with the book today. He has gained international recognition as a working artist and has been the subject of over 30 solo exhibitions and 200 group exhibitions. Exhibition highlights include Slash at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, 40 under 40 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in DC, and Beyond Words at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art in Prague. Dettmer had a solo show in Maribor, Slovenia as part of its 2012 designation as the European Capital of Culture. He received a Working Artist Project Grant and was given a show at MOCA GA in Atlanta, GA that then traveled to three additional institutions, and his work was the subject of a mid-career survey at the Hermann Geiger Foundation in Cecina, Italy.
Dettmer’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery in DC, The Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries in Chicago, The High Museum in Atlanta, the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, The National Gallery in Oslo, Norway, and the Yale University Art Gallery among several others. He has lectured on his work at a number of museums and institutions including NYU in Abu Dhabi, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and The New York Public Library in New York; and in 2014 he gave a TED talk for the TED youth conference in New York. Dettmer’s work has been featured in numerous publications and programs including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, Art News, Modern Painters, The Village Voice, CBS News and NPR.
In 2025 Dettmer completed his largest work to date- a 4-foot by 30-foot commission composed of 39 hardcover books for The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, which will be on view through the summer of 2028. His work is also currently in several group shows including Beyond Surface at Stewart Gallery in Boise, Idaho, Contemporary Volumes at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, and Context: Art, Books, & Freedom at the Columbia University Library in New York.
www.briandettmer.com
Jeremy Black is a painter, business owner, community leader, and resident of Riverside, Illinois. As a dedicated member and previous board director of the Riverside Arts Center, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural life of his community. His paintings have been exhibited locally at the Beverly Arts Center, Giola Gallery and the Rockford Art Museum. Through his layered career—as artist, educator, community advocate, and steward of historic architecture—Jeremy Black embodies the spirit of civic creativity, weaving together personal practice with public engagement.
Detail, America I Press On, 2025, Hardcover book, archival varnish, 14.5 x 10.5 x .75 inches
To purchase artworks from Brian Dettmer’s In·Formation exhibition or for more information or images of the art, please contact the Exhibitions Director, Joanne Aono at jaono@riversideartscenter.com.
