Wood Carving Artists

Unkei (c. 1150–1223) was centuries ahead of European wood carvers. The Japanese sculptor was the very first to introduce expression in the faces of his sculptures. He also already worked under his own name, while the European makers of Christ and Mary sculptures still delivered […]

Katsura Funakoshi brings Japanese to life. His wooden sculptures breathe a serene beauty. With a masterful command of classical Japanese wood carving techniques, he gives his figures a lifelike presence. Also because the marble eyes seem to look at you. Katsura Funakoshi brings Japanese to

Martin Puryear depicts the social ladder as an endless climb. His wooden ladder of almost 11 meters gets narrower the higher it goes. The title Ladder for Booker T. Washington refers to one of the first Black African-American leaders. Puryear himself also comes from the

A Pilgrimage to Val Gardena. This short presentation by Wowwood focuses on five Internationally Renowned Wood Artists born and working in this valley in South-Tirol, Italy. The longer biography’s can be found in the blog on Wowwood. A short presentation by Wowwood. Val Gardena has

The memento mori of Aron Demetz are not classical artworks with skulls, wilted flowers or hourglasses. His wooden sculptures make death itself visible. The heads and bodies of his sculptures show traces of transience and decay. Demetz shows the inevitable end, without passing moral judgment. The memento

Gregor Prugger has made a heart of wood. From the heart-shaped sculpture sprouts a bunch of branches that strikingly resembles the widely branched bloodstream in human lungs. This wood artist from Val Gardena tells a story that is already hidden in the wood. He only

Willy Verginer prays on an oil barrel, while a color plane indicates the rising sea level. The oil drums return in numerous other sculptures. A child can no longer play carefree in the water due to all the floating barrels and other debris around them.

Bruno Walpoth honors the vulnerable human, huddled, turned inward, closed off from the outside world. By painting his sculptures with white primer, the life-sized sculptures also appear as shadows of themselves. These characteristics make Walpoth one of the most famous representatives of contemporary wood carvers

A pilgrimage to Val Gardena, the mecca of wood carving art. Visiting internationally renowned artists from South Tyrol (Italy) in four days. I created a dream itinerary for myself that leads along the workshops of Walpoth, the Demetzes, Verginer and Prugger. A pilgrimage to Val

Max Ernst rubbed wood grain onto paper, a technique he called frottage. With graphite, chalk or charcoal he scratched over paper that lay on rough floorboards or tree trunks. He used the drawing of the wood grain as a starting point for creating surrealist images