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This may look like a stone sculpture, but in fact New York-based artist Long-Bin Chen used nothing but paper to produce the following series of carvings. That’s right, this is actually a stack of phone books, cut, shaped and coloured to form the face of Buddha. Check out the full gallery of Chen’s incredible work after the jump.

Working out of his studio in the Bronx, New York, Taiwan-born Chen produces sculptures the like of which we’ve never seen. Viewed from a distance, we’d swear that these were made from chiselled stone, but when we look carefully it’s actually possible to see the books, magazines and directories that make up the unique carvings. Paper mache this most definitely is not.

▼ From the front.

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▼ And the jaw-dropping side view.

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Always preferring to work with local materials, it’s easy to see where many of Chen’s sculptures were created, with Manhattan phone directories appearing alongside old paperback novels and out-of-date textbooks. No matter how many times we look at these beautiful stacks of paper, we continue to be amazed. Check these works out:

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▼ Here, we see Chen experimenting with vertical lines
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▼Laid out layer by layer, Chen’s 3-D sculptures suddenly become flat cut-outs.

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And if that’s still not enough paper sculpture for you, you can take in a number of the artist’s creations from a multitude of angles in the following video, which comes courtesy of the College of Charleston.

To see more of Chen’s art, head over to his official website here, or if you’re in the area check out his work in the flesh at New York’s Frederieke Taylor Gallery. Keep up the incredible work, Mr. Chen! We don’t suppose you’d do a carving of our own Mr. Sato using old manga comics, would you!?

Source: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art 
Video via YouTube CollegeofCharleston