Anatol Knotek's Visual Poetry Pieces Words Together To Make Art (PHOTOS)

The overwrought cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words" can be applied literally to artist Anatol Knotek.

Knotek is a text collage artist who pieces together intricate portraits from words. From afar, the images look sketched, but upon closer examination you can see the text that makes up these handwritten pictures.

"The basic idea is to make portraits of people in their own words which are mixed with mine -- a kind of communication paired with the gesture of writing and painting," he said in an email interview with The Huffington Post.

Knotek is an Austrian artist and visual poet. His process is step-by-step, he said. He begins with pencil; sketching the shadows and details with small text and basic words. He then moves on to larger letters and words, paying attention to the overall impression and appearance.

"The style varied through the years -- from concrete poetry to handwritten portraits and pictures," he said.

This artistry is a poetry of sorts; a menagerie of meaningful words strung together to create a whole.

"The written pictures are just a small part of my work which has the intention to blur the borders of poetry/literature and fine arts," Knotek said.

Click through for a slideshow of Knotek's word collage art: