Ekaterina Panikanova turns old books into art

I first came across the work of Ekaterina Panikanova back in 2013, but unfortunately I wasn't able to blog about her magnificent book art. For those of you who are not familiar with Ekaterina, she is a Russian-born artist who uses vintage books and other old documents found in flea markets to create beautiful illustrations. She assembles the books, mounts them to a board open-faced, then paints them with old-fashioned surrealist scenes.

She says: "I like working on old books: I like the way the wear and tear, underlinings, notes and scribblings enable me to perceive the personalities of the people who have read them. In Russia, there is a difference between a icon which has been 'prayed to' and one which has not; a book which has been read has the same kind of energy as an icon which has been worshiped."

Ekaterina was born in St. Petersburg, and graduated at the top of her class from the Academy of Fine Arts. She currently lives and works in Rome. Check out some of Ekaterina's work after the jump, and then be sure to check out her website for even more.

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