Portrait of an artist as bibliophile

MANILA, Philippines - Enter Fully Booked at The Fort today and you will encounter a 24-foot tower of books, painted with an image of a woman and cat, erected in the building’s atrium. Created by LA-based artist Mike Stilkey, the installation consists of 3,000 books stacked vertically to serve as a canvas.

Stilkey, who spent his earlier years as a skater only to switch to the arts after investing over a decade in the sport, prefers to work on layered surfaces: books, record covers, pages inscribed with text.

“I’ve always sort of worked on things I’ve found in thrift stores. I was just not into things that are blank,” he tells The STAR. “If I see something white, I’ll sit and stare at it for an hour."

Instead of the paint store, Stilkey heads to local libraries back home to hunt for his materials. “They basically throw out massive amounts of books so I go in there, I collect books and stick them in a storage unit until I’m ready.”

This particular piece was constructed entirely in LA, then later shipped to Hong Kong where it was exhibited in Times Square Mall, before it found its new home at Fully Booked.

Though he’s surrounded by books, Stilkey wouldn’t call himself a massive reader. The most recent tome he pored over? “Books on billiards,” he laughs. “And actually a golf book.”