carving

Posts tagged
with carving

Art

Granite and Quartz Stones Are Carved to Appear Like Fabric and Clay by José Manuel Castro López

Spanish artist José Manuel Castro López (previously) transforms nondescript chunks of granite and quartz into squished and dough-like objects, as if each object morphed from solid to liquid and back again in the sculptor’s capable hands. López seems to delight in convincing the viewer that he works with stone as if it were clay. Lately, he’s begun to introduce additional objects that seem to stitch, clamp, or stretch the stones in various ways. While the pieces are obviously not as complex as a Bernini or Michelangelo, they do function as unusual and often humorous studies of various stone carving techniques. You can explore a steady stream of work old and new on his Facebook timeline. (via My Modern Met)

 

Art

Adorable Canines and Chunky Hounds Masterfully Chiseled into Wood by Misato Sano

Misato Sano ensures that she always has a loyal companion by her side, albeit with a little less slobber and fur. Based in the Myagi prefecture of Japan, the sculptor carves wooden busts and full figures of well-groomed dogs, preferring to leave the small gouges from her chisel on their textured exteriors. Despite being stationary, the pups have typical canine qualities like plump bodies, panting tongues, and pink bows adorning their ears.

Each figure has a distinct facial expression, whether curious, joyful, or contemplative. “When I make a work, I express the multifacetedness of a woman (myself and an object of admiration) as a dog,” she said in a statement. “Dogs are always loyal to their masters. I make my work with the hope (that) they will also nuzzle up to their audience.”

To dive deeper into Sano’s process and see some of the real-life canines that inspire her sculptural works, head to Instagram, and check out her forays in ceramics, embroidery, and drawing on her site. You also might enjoy these carved pets by Gerard Mas.

 

MISATO SANO -The Wood Sculptor – Eng sub from indo films on Vimeo.

Art

Intricate Patterns Hand-Carved into Fruit and Vegetables by Takehiro Kishimoto

When he’s not cooking them, Japanese chef and food artist Takehiro Kishimoto (previously) is turning fruits and vegetables into intricately carved sculptures too beautiful to eat. Using sharp handheld blades, Kishimoto combines the centuries-old art of Thai fruit carving with the Japanese art of Mukimono to decorate apples, carrots, broccoli, and broad beans with geometric patterns and elaborate designs.

The precision easily could be mistaken for digital photo manipulation were it not for the process videos that Kishimoto shares on his Instagram, where he also writes that he hopes the Thai carving tradition will spread around the world. With more than 284,000 followers watching flowers bloom from stalks and carrots become interlocking chains, we’d say that his hopes already are coming true. To see more of the artist’s handiwork, go ahead and hit that follow button.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by gaku carving (@gakugakugakugakugaku1) on Jun 15, 2019 at 3:15pm PDT

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by gaku carving (@gakugakugakugakugaku1) on Jun 2, 2019 at 11:41pm PDT

 

Art

By Carving Into a Text, Artist Guy Laramée Finds a New Way to Excavate Meaning

There’s a well-known saying that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. For Guy Laramée (previously), though, a books’ contents aren’t the only important aspect either. The Montreal-based artist repurposes encyclopedic volumes and series of dictionaries to create topographic carvings that dip into and excavate the pages, framing the physical object as a work of art in itself. Laramée’s latest projects include a piece with minuscule carved steps scaling a mountainside and another with moss-covered ridges jutting up from low valleys. His work titled “Journey to the Center of the” features two side-by-side texts with a cavernous hole bored through them, piercing entirely through to the other side.

In 2018, the artist released a TEDx talk titled “No outside,” in which he considers conceptions of art in an age that fosters a growing addiction to ideas, leaving little room for contemplation. He refers to his text-based projects as being the perfect medium for exploring his “love-hate relationship with intellectual knowledge, (his) critique of the ideologies of progress, and the idea that true knowledge could very well be an erosion,” as he explores questions about the relationship between meaning, emotion, and art, more broadly.

Additional philosophical musings can be found on Laramée’s site, while he shares more of his quarried landscapes on Instagram.

Art

Crystal Hearts and Translucent Tongues Shaped Into Sculptural Works by Debra Baxter

Santa Fe-based sculptor and jewelry designer Debra Baxter combines glass, bronze, crystal, wood, and found objects to create ghostly sculptures of human forms. In one piece titled “Cross My Heart” (2019), a purple heart sits on top of a rough cluster of geodes, while in ‘First Taste” (2017), a glass tongue protrudes from a slab of quartz crystal.

For many of her recent works Baxter shares with Roq Larue Gallery that she drew inspiration from the phenomenon of the “Ghost Heart.” In this medical procedure, a heart is cleansed of all of its blood cells and then injected with hundreds of millions of new blood steam cells which cause the heart to begin beating again. Baxter is interested in how this concept explores the complexity of existence, walking the line between life and death.  You can see more of her sculpted hearts and wearable artworks on her website and Instagram.

Art

Chairs, Stools, and Coat Racks Carved into Raw Pieces of Wood by Alicja Kwade

Polish artist Alicja Kwade carves into tree trunks to create 3/4-formed stools and chairs that balance with the support of the unfinished segments of wood. The carved furniture would be simple in its construction if taken out of context, but in conjunction with the tree trunks the pieces exist in a liminal space between design object and source material. Kwade’s carved furniture is currently exhibited with Berlin-based König Galerie at the The Armory Show in New York through March 10, 2019. You can see more of her work, like these sculptural installations that create illusions with tree trunks and mirrors, on her website and Instagram.