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“Free Tibet” (Dalai Lama)

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

“It’s All Relative” (Albert Einstein).

“He Was So Right About Bush”

(Michael Moore).

Hillary Clinton

Che Guevarra

ALexander Graham Bell

Presidential Peanut Jimmy Carter

Don’t Stand So Close To Me--Sting “El Piquete”

Make my Day--Clint Eastwood

“The Man With No Name”

(Clint Eastwood).

On the Road Again --Willie Nelson

“False Modesty” (John Goodman).

Bob Dylan

Anna

Diego Rivera

Ed (Hoover)

Fiona Apple

Frank Zappa

Frida Kahlo

Graham Greene

Grim Determination--Patrick Swayze

Grim Determination--Patrick Swayze

Hippy Comic--George Carlin

I Am Spartacus--Kirk Douglas

I See You

Insult comic

Jack Nicholson

James Brown

John 1963 (John Lennon).

Keith Richards

Ki

m

Marilyn Monroe

Mississippi Blues Man-- Beau West

No respect

“Pee-wee” (Pee-wee Herman).

Prairie Home Compainion

Ringo 64 (Ringo Starr).

Robert Aldrich

Superman Retired

Valerie

T Bone

Grey Man

Come Closer

Angry Youth

Big Mouth

A little stressed III

A little stressed

The Philadelphia based artist got the idea of using phone-books as an art medium, 14 years ago, while he was looking for some wood

to carve. He spotted a pile of discarded phone-books on the pavement, and the idea just hit him. Since people mostly use the internet, to look for things these days, most phone books just get

dumped somewhere, so he sees his art as a way of recycling them.

Alex Queral carves up to two phone-book sculptures a month, then paints them with transparent acrylic paint, to make them durable

and give them a glossy finish. So far, Queral has immortalized iconic figures like the Dalai Lama, Barrack Obama, Clint Eastwood,

Jack Nicholson, and many others.

The artist admits it’s pretty difficult to deal with a careless cut that ruins everything, right when he’s about to finish a piece. But all he

can do is start his carving all over again.

He said:“My fascination with heads began as an art student. For

me, the human head was a natural choice of subject matter because of its inherent expressiveness. I carve the faces out of phone books because I like the three-

dimensional quality that results and because of the unexpected results that occur working in this medium. The three-dimensional quality enhances the feeling of

the pieces as an object as opposed to a picture.

In carving and painting a head from a phone directory, I’m celebrating the individual lost in the anonymous list of thousands of names that describe the size of the

community. In addition, I like the idea of creating something that is normally discarded every year into an

object of longevity. “

Taking an ordinary phone book, Alex Queral carves a face into this object of so many

faceless names. With the book, a very sharp X-ACTO® knife, a little pot of acrylic medium to set detail areas and a great deal of talent, Queral literally peals away the pages like the skin of an onion to reveal the portrait within. Once the carving is complete, he will often apply a black wash to enhance the features and then seal the entire book with acrylic to preserve the work. However, he never loses the line registration; and the book remains

quite pliable.