According to a 2011 Associated Press-GfK poll, 77% of American adults believe in angels. Whatever your personal feelings and beliefs are about angels, there is no doubt that angels are a fascinating topic, which have piqued our interests since a very early time in recorded history. These celestial beings have been described and depicted over the ages in so many different ways, from fearless warriors to tender babies.
One of the latest works of art that depicts angels has come from the work of Chuck Fischer. Chuck is a premier muralist, trompe l’oeil master, product designer and published author. He is also known today for his amazing works of art being displayed in extravagant pop-up books. Through his beautiful Angels: A Pop-Up Book, we get to experience the art and intrigue of angels.
Book Format and Structure
As shared above, Angels: A Pop-Up Book is created by Chuck Fischer, and features some of his incredible art work, as it relates to angelic beings. The book was published October 2009.
Chuck’s art work is amazing on its own, but one of his specialties is giving his art a three dimensional perspective, and hence featuring it in the form of pop-up books. He is a very talented artist in many domains, and his paintings can be found various places all over the world. His designs have been made into books, ornaments, home furnishings and even fabrics. He is the author of 5 previous pop-up books: Christmas in New York, Christmas Around the World, In the Beginning, The White House and the Great American Houses and Gardens.
Angels: A Pop-Up Book is about 8 by 10 inches and about 2 inches thick to accommodate for the pop-up format. It features nine amazing scenes of Chuck’s art work, accompanied by some written parts that enhance the book even more. The written components are by Curtis Flowers.
The book features 3 main sections:
Messengers, which features the Origins of Angels and Biblical Angels
A Hierarchy of Angels, which features special content on the Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel
Secular Angels, which features the angelic connections to art, music and the New Age
The actual physical structure of the book is amazing in how the pictures spring up to life and feature incredible detail and craftsmanship. The paper engineering for this book was done by Bruce Foster.
Book Content and Personal Commentary
This is by far one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. This is not the kind of book you would read as a novel, or non-fiction, but rather take it in as a work of art.
When I first opened up this book, I honestly felt like a child with a brand new toy. There is something magical about the depictions that pulls the viewer into the surreal visual content. I really feel like the book takes us back to our childhood innocence where the turn of every page features delights for our visual senses. And while this book would be greatly enjoyed by children, that would only be for visual purposes and with adult supervision, unless they are perhaps 6 or older. The reason for this is that some of the intricate designs are quite fragile and could be easily ripped and damaged. For adults, I can see this book making an amazing collectors item, especially for those who have an extra special affinity for angels in their lives.
Since my childhood, I have personally loved all things angel-related, however I do not see them as fighters of the dark forces, as they are often depicted in religious writings. The combination of “angels” and “fighting” or “wars” just seems like a complete contradiction to me. I think we have personalized a great many mystical things and because we cannot understand how the higher forces operate, we endow upon them our limited physical characteristics and ways of behaving. I’d like to think that angels are much more evolved than resorting to any kind of “violence”. This idea however, did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book in any way, and if anything it made me reflect on these beings and their potential existence even more.
While I greatly enjoyed learning more about the angels from this book, it is important to point out that it is predominantly written from a religious perspective, and not a non-denominational spiritual perspective. Overall though, the book is a visual delight and it is nice to know that such books exist for adults and children alike. It is a wonderful way to enjoy art work and take our imagination and visual senses for a delightful journey, while we explore the realm of angels.
This book is available from online book stores, like Amazon.com (below).