Pinocchio would probably have gladly swapped his creator, Geppetto, for Italian sculptor Bruno Walpoth. Walpoth's ability to turn a hunk of wood into a lifelike looking figure is impressive, to say the least. His sculpted and painted busts and human forms are anything but "wooden." They seem to be imbued with emotion, capable of possessing a soul and striking the viewer as pensive, thoughtful - even melancholy.
Bruno Walpoth Figural Wood Sculptures
Art essayist Danila Serafini writes that "He uses resistant lime wood or lead leaf foils which he lays out on the wood and hammers as in an embossed work. Here it’s as if for a very brief moment flesh has turned into metal, a deaf and bleak metal that devours all thoughts and releases the weight of solitude and introspection; the skinny and bony face is moulded on the hollow spaces where the sculptor reveals himself. And when the eyes send deep desolate gleams or when they express astonishment and amazement, or, furthermore, when they are closed, it’s always the silent torment of doubt that we grasp from the artist’s soul."
The process of creating 'Julia':
Julia:
Bruno at work in his studio:
A selection of his works:
Bruno Walpoth
