Ted Wray turns damaged books into magic, immortalizing them by transforming them into mind-expanding 3-D worlds of inexhaustible wonder, with just a blade.
Wray has had careers in the fields of printing, music and art, earning him multiple awards in his pursuit of excellence in each career. In 2019, he once again reinvented himself, this time as one of the world’s most innovative Book Excavation Artists. Since then he has earned various awards while exhibiting his works in New York, Rhode Island, Maryland, Georgia and Florida. In 2021, his month-long solo exhibition, “Don't Judge a Book by its Carver” included over 50 of his works. His staggering creative output exceeds 150 works of Book Excavation Art, over 50 of which are in private collections across the United States and Canada. He currently lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida.
According to Ted:
I turn damaged books into magic with just a blade. I don’t add any imagery or colors to my Book Excavations; everything you see in my art was in the book before I began. The most common feedback I get is the feedback I hope for: “I’ve never seen anything like this; who knew a book could look like that?” In some ways, my art is a direct reflection of the artist.
My raw materials were damaged, and seemingly doomed to an untimely fate, until they were rescued and turned into something transcendent.
My work is also a campaign against simplism. Not only do we ignore complexity at our own peril, but we may be missing out on its beauty. In my work, I aim to demonstrate that even mundane, familiar objects can be seen in new, mind-expanding ways. Since I don’t add
anything, but just remove things, technically, I’m making the book object simpler. I’m revealing what’s always been there in a new way, a way that only seems more complex
than the brick-like appearance of the unmined book.
I don’t want to see books become obsolete. Books have shaped culture, culture has shaped books. In our fast-paced digital age, I’m inviting the viewer to once again see that books have always been magic.
