Buddha Head Carved out of Phone Books

Long Bin-Chen, a New York-based artist originally from Taipei, sculpts books. He's especially fond of depicting the Buddha, such as this sculpture made out of phone books. The artist explained that this is an effort to make the Buddha meaningful to the West:

Since colonial times, Westerners have taken Buddha heads from the Buddha statues in Asia and brought the Buddha heads back to the West. Today, while one finds so many Buddha heads in Western museums and galleries, equally many Buddha bodies in Asia are headless. The Buddha head is an important cultural image from Asia. Yet, by and large, it is misunderstood in Western societies. In this project, I chose the most beautiful Buddha head I found at a museum to use as a model and created this Buddha head from New York City telephone books. The Buddha Head contains the names and numbers of millions of New York residents. The Head will represent a caring Buddha, a Buddha from the East who has come to take care of the West.

Link via Dude Craft | Photo: New York Optimist