Sculpture and Bruno Walpoth

"In our valley there is a 400-year-old tradition of wood-sculpting culture. Both my grandfather and my uncle were wood sculptors, and so I grew up with this medium." Bruno Walpoth

It shows. His work is amazing.

Walpoth's figures are very realistic, but also true to their media: wood and their process: direct carving. Look at the pants on the figure below. The direct chisel marks tell you about the wood and suggest denim fabric. The file and rasp marks, the built up layers of the white stain that's been sanded through tell you some of each sculpture's history.

There's beauty in his finishes. The white washed tones down the wood grain and unifies the sculpture. Allowing the grain to still be seen suggest an inner life, both of the figure and of its former life as a tree.

To see more of his sculpture and drawings, visit Bruno Walpoth's website