Books don’t just tell stories—they can become stories. That’s the idea behind Guy Laramée’s breathtaking book sculptures, where pages turn into peaks and knowledge becomes landscape. For over 20 years, this interdisciplinary artist has been crafting miniature mountain ranges from old, forgotten volumes. The result? Dreamlike, sculpted landscapes that are as thoughtful as they are beautiful.
Working from his studio in the lush mountains of Nova Friburgo, Brazil, Laramée is surrounded by inspiration—especially the towering Pico da Caledônia nearby. His latest series, Livros, takes his signature style even deeper. He uses high-pressure water to strip antique books of their covers and reshape the drying pages into weathered cliffs and canyons. The textures he creates feel incredibly real—you might even forget you’re looking at paper.
But look closer. You’ll notice the delicate stitching of the book binding, the faded ink of dictionary entries or encyclopedia pages peeking through. These subtle remnants remind you that each sculpture once held human knowledge. Now, that information has been reimagined into something raw and organic.
There’s a powerful message in Laramée’s work. By carving mountains from books, he reflects on how we try to preserve knowledge—stacked high in libraries and crammed into our minds—while nature keeps flowing, shifting, and evolving. His sculptures suggest that maybe we’re holding on too tightly. Maybe it’s okay to let go, to let ideas erode and change, just like landscapes do.
As Laramée puts it, “It is only when you realize that there is a world outside this mania [for knowledge] that you can come to think that there is something crazy in this.” His mountain book art invites us to rethink what we value, and where we find meaning.
In the end, Guy Laramée’s sculpted landscapes are more than just art. They’re quiet, poetic meditations on time, memory, and the beautiful impermanence of everything—even the written word.
