Eddy Sykes Carves Old Bowling Balls into Epic Book Sculptures

Artist <a href="http://www.yakuzalou.com/" target="_blank">Eddy Sykes</a> takes the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/" target="_blank">Big Lebowski</a> to a whole new level with his unconventional bowling ball art. The Los Angeles-based artist <a href="http://inhabitat.com/julie-dodd-sculpts-delicate-nature-inspired-artwork-from-layers-of-recycled-paper/" target="_blank">recycles</a> disused balls from America’s favorite pastime into witty sculptures of books so thoroughly that it's tough to guess what they were originally.

Sykes seeks out <a href="http://inhabitat.com/brooklyn-bowl-is-the-worlds-only-leed-certified-bowling-alley/" target="_blank">bowling balls</a> that have been long forgotten- most of the pieces he has sourced are well over 30 years in age.

Despite being old and unused for years, the balls were all kept in pristine condition, making the perfect medium to carve from. Each of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/recycled-bowling-lane-furniture-is-right-up-our-alley/" target="_blank">bowling balls</a> symbolized a certain historical significance to the original owners.

The balls referenced a time period spent in a bowling league, or memories of playing with family. so Sykes wanted to transform the pieces into something else that would be historically significant.

Carefully hand carving each bowling ball, Sykes chose to turn the pieces into epic pieces of literature. Associating <a href="http://inhabitat.com/6-amazing-works-of-art-made-using-recycled-books/" target="_blank">great books</a> with sentimentality, Sykes carves out a new symbol of memory, relating books to trophies.

The carved spines still bear the finger wholes of the bowling balls, linking the new nostalgic object with its former use. Besides transforming the balls’ use and appearance, Syke’s <a href="http://inhabitat.com/guy-laramee-carves-gorgeous-landscapes-into-the-edges-of-books/" target="_blank">carved books</a> take a step beyond the nostalgia of the bowling ball, and extend further into time, sighting that knowledge and information outlasts any physical object.

More personally, Sykes associates bowling with his blue collar upbringing, and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/incredible-house-sculpture-made-from-hundreds-of-recycled-books-by-cardiffmiller/" target="_blank">books with his studies</a> in architecture school, when he left his small middle class town for university. The act of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/artist-brian-dettmer-carves-old-books-into-intricate-narrative-sculptures/" target="_blank">carving these books</a> from bowling balls is both symbolic and an physical reference to Sykes’ “escape” from blue collar work and into the world of the scholar.