Philadelphia artist Alex Queral uses a unique yet ordinary medium to create his art — a phone book. He is known for portraits he carves from the bound pages of telephone books. Each face is often painted with a monochromatic wash to distinguish the portrait from the pages. The background remains untouched to reveal the original source with its readable list of names and numbers. Queral says that he is “celebrating the individual lost in the anonymous list of thousands of names.” It’s as if a singular face has emerged from the masses. Although many of Queral’s portraits are unfamiliar faces, he also renders famous people like actors Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood, musicians Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, and Sting, or politicians including former President Jimmy Carter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama. Queral’s creativity, ingenuity, and craftsmanship are evident as he transforms mundane phone books into extraordinary sculptural portraits.

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