Jan Bom is a man on a mission. That is how poet Leo Mesman introduces the art volume Dendroism, Stories of the Wood. “A delight to the eye,” Mesman writes in his review on his website. The poet Leo Mesman, photographed in 2010 beside a tree […]
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Praise for Dendroism is already emerging as the first copies of this publication have been presented. Wood artist Emile van der Kruk describes it as a beautiful collection of images that, for the first time, signals an international trend. Increasingly, artists take the original shape of a
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Whale watching is an unforgettable experience. I still remember how gracefully those giant humpback whales dived, off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada. Whale Watching is a sculpture that allows me to relive an unforgettable experience at home, every day. Whale watching. A surreal combination
Antony Gormley also began with wood, the British artist who in the Netherlands is best known for his monumental crouching figure at the harbour of Lelystad. In the early years of his career, he dissected trees in an almost scientific manner. Many major twentieth-century artists
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The wooden death dolls of Sulawesi are guardians between life and the afterlife. The figures stand in rows before excavated caves. As a living culture of the Toraja people they have become a tourist attraction. The wooden death dolls of Sulawesi stand as guardians in
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Joseph Beuys planted 7000 oaks, one for each basalt block he had stacked high in the city of Kassel. The action of this German artist reflected the growing environmental awareness around 1980. The artwork radically expanded the boundaries of sculpture, performance, and social engagement. Joseph
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Hans Panschar embodies Sehnsucht in works such as placing a mountain on a small sled. His art is about unfulfillable longing for the unreachable, the impossible. This German wood artist is not internationally famous, but he has a highly recognizable style and thematic approach. Hans
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The oldest known depiction of a wood carver is Greek. It shows a naked man seated, holding a bust between his knees. The scene is placed on the inside of a drinking cup and dates to around 520–500 BCE. The cup is now in the
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New icons made on Mount Athos, a secluded monastic state in northern Greece. Especially notable are icons painted on weathered wood, combined with wood carving that reaches back to centuries of Orthodox tradition. New icons made on Mount Athos, like this Maria with nice ornamental
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Gauguin missed the bisj poles. In search of authentic woodcarving in Polynesia, he would have been better off traveling to Papua New Guinea than to Tahiti. In this former Dutch colony, the culture of carving bisj poles was still thriving around 1890. Gauguin missed the
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