Often, I use power tools to carve my sculptures, however, this sculpture is mostly based on hand carving. I have a set of Swiss and Japanese carving tools that helped me carve the gap that flows along the wood boards.
Creating the initial flow
Using a Japanese wood chisel to carve the wood
Final sanding, before applying wood oil to bring out the colors
Mounted on a concrete base and ready for taking pictures
Please take a look at the picture of the finished sculpture.
I am very honored to be invited by the Blackhawk Gallery in Danville as guest artist for the upcoming exhibition "Syncopation". The show is hosted by the Alamo Danville Artist Society and goes from April 28 through July 9, 2017. The Gala reception in on April 29, 2017 from 5 to 7 pm. For more information about the event please go to the Blackhawk Gallery website.
I am honored that my work was selected for the upcoming 5th Annual Yountville Art Festival - Art, Sip & Stroll, on Saturday April 22, 2017 in the beautiful Town of Yountville, CA. I will have a big booth to show my work, both sculptures and wall art, and I hope to see you there. In addition to the amazing art of 40 artists, there will be plenty of good food, wine and music - sounds like a real good party. For more details about this event, please check out the Art Festival website.
One of my wall sculptures "Mountain Ridge" was selected by the ArtSpan jury for the upcoming Benefit Auction, yeah! This is very exciting. The preview of all art work is on March 23, and the live auction takes place on Saturday, March 25 from 5:30 pm to 10 pm. All proceeds go to ArtSpan's programs to support the local art community in San Francisco. I am very much looking forward to this exciting event and I hope to see you there. For more details, please go to the ArtSpan Auction website and for pictures go to the Auction Artwork Catalog.
I love chocolate and I grew up with chocolate, lots of it. The other day, when I discovered a reclaimed redwood board, the color and grain looked like chocolate - yummy. So I decided to make a big chocolate bar out of it, and while I was working on it, it melted, and it became even more delicious. A couple of days ago, I learned that the jurors of the Healdsburg Center for the Arts also seem to have a sweet tooth, because they have selected this piece for the upcoming "Art of Gastronomy II" exhibition. The show starts on Saturday, March 18, 2017 with an opening reception from 5 to 7 pm, followed by other food and wine related events throughout the months of March, April and May. Please check the event website for more information. I hope you have a chance to see the exhibition, and also taste good food and wine while you are in Healdsburg.
I am very excited that my latest work "Volcano of Flowers" was selected for the exhibition Boundaries & Balance by the ACCI Gallery, juried by Mark Shunney. The exhibition goes from March 1 until March 31, 2017 in the ACCI Gallery on 1652 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA. The opening reception is Friday, March 3, 2017 from 6 to 8pm. I hope to see you there.
I am looking forward to an upcoming show in celebration of International Sculpture Day (Annual event held worldwide on April 24th to celebrate sculpture and it's vital contribution to society). The particular show is hosted by the Marin Society of Artists in San Rafael, CA. I have two tall standing sculptures (5 feet high) in the exhibition, Moai III and Carved by Time II, to celebrate this day.
One reason for me to celebrate sculptures is the simple fact that you can touch them (most of them). This adds a whole new experience of discovering and enjoying art.
Overall, there will be 72 sculptures on display. The exhibition starts April 5 and goes until April 30, 2017. However, the most important day is April 14 from 5pm to 9pm in conjunction with the 2nd Friday Art Walk - that's the time where you can meet with the sculptors and enjoy a party! See you there. For more details go to the Marin Society of Artists website.
Last weekend I dropped off two wall sculptures at this amazing artsy and creative community space in Berkeley, called Neyborly. The place is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 12 to 8pm and my two pieces "The Wave" and "Tree under Moon" are on display, ready to find a new home. Please come by and check out my work and the beautiful wood work of 30 other local artists. Think global, buy local! Thank you for supporting local artists.
Neyborly Southwest Berkeley: The Wave - wall sculpture by Lutz Hornischer
My newest work started out from a 12 x 12 x 3 block of glued reclaimed redwood boards. After I started carving, the piece looked like an eruption, like a volcano inside-out. So, I named it "Eruption" and continued working on it with this dramatic picture in mind. But as soon as I started sanding, it felt the piece had "softened". When I applied the chalk paint and the Varnish Oil I knew I had to find a different name. After finishing the piece, I went for a walk and when I saw a few flowers on the trail, the name just appeared "Volcano of Flowers" - a volcano that releases layers of wooden flowers. For more details, additional photos and dimensions, please go to the sculpture page. Hope you enjoy it.
Last weekend was the opening reception at the Blue Line Arts Gallery in Roseville, CA. The show is a group exhibition and the jury selected my wall sculpture "3500 Years". The exhibition is called "Art of Ekphrasis" and each art work includes a poem, a story or other written statement. You can see my poem and the sculpture in more detail in this recent blog post. Check out the show when you have a chance, it goes until February 25, 2017.
Last weekend, I installed my most recent work "The Big Wave" at Illumigarden, a sculpture garden in Mill Valley. It consists of 90+ pieces of reclaimed redwood and measures 5 feet by 3.5 feet - it truly is a big wave. Check it out when you are in Marin, and visualize how it might look like at one of your walls at home. Enjoy!
Last night was the opening reception of MARVELOUS, the International Exhibition of Collage, Assemblage and Construction in Sebastopol. Thank you to the jury John Hundt, Sherry Parker, and Cecil Touchon for selecting my sculpture "Hundred Trees" and thank you to the team of the Sebastopol Center for the Arts for hosting a great exhibition and reception. The show goes until February 12, 2017 - hope you can check it out.
Several months ago, I did a quick study of a male torso sculpture. I had found a leftover piece of reclaimed redwood, actually three boards that were glued together. I looked at it and thought - let's try a torso. So, I started sketching, sawing, carving, more sketching and carving and finally finished it with lemon scented butcher block oil.
What I personally liked about this project, was the fact that the piece of wood had some carving marks from a previous test I did with a new tool. So I had to improvise and go with what I had, and that is what I enjoy when working with old reclaimed wood.
One of my newer sculptures is shown at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts starting January 7, 2017. The piece is called Carved by Time II and is made out of 4 boards of reclaimed redwood - glued, carved, sanded and more sanded and finally oiled to bring out the beautiful growth rings and imperfections of the old wood. The exhibition will also feature one of my Moai sculptures.
Hope you have a chance to see my work and enjoy the complimentary wine.
I am very excited about a new opportunity to show my work. One of my sculptures "3500 Years" just got accepted for the "Art of Ekphrasis" show in the Blue Line Arts Gallery in Roseville. Ekphrasis from the Greek is a verbal description of a visual work of art, often as a short poem. I selected the 3500 Years wall sculpture because it has an interesting story to tell and I wrote about the story in a short poem.
It's wood, but doesn't it look soft, light, and fluffy like a sweet dream? 60+ reclaimed wood boards glued/doweled and then gently carved, sanded and oiled resulted in this new piece, ready to hang on a wall and make you sleepy and dreamy.
Last Saturday was the opening reception for the HERE show at the Berkeley Art Center and one of my sculptures "Sitting Meditation" was present, sitting quietly among the hundred of guests. Thanks to the Berkeley Art Center for this opportunity to show my work.
I just finished a new sculpture, consisting of 70 end pieces from reclaimed redwood boards. Each piece shows about 50 growth rings - and that makes it a total of 3500 years (of course not sequential since most of the trees grew at the same time, but still...). The sculpture itself is a growth curve with ups and downs to illustrate how life or pretty much anything develops over time. Take a look at more pictures of the wall sculpture.
Marvelous news - one of my newest sculptures "Hundred Trees" was selected by the jury of the International Exhibition of Collage, Assemblage and Construction. The exhibition is called "Marvelous!" and is hosted by the Sebastopol Center for the Arts from January 6 to February 12, 2017. The Opening Reception is on January 6, from 6pm - 7:30pm in Sebastopol and I hope to see you there.
The sculpture I submitted "Hundred Trees" was truly a work of assemblage and construction. Over the last several months I collected the cut-offs and small pieces of reclaimed redwood that were left over from my work, and started gluing them together. I just couldn't throw those pieces away, each of these pieces used to be part of a tree. After about six months I had a rough tree re-assembled, consisting of 374 pieces from probably hundred of trees. After lots of carving and sanding the tree re-emerged - take a look at the finished tree sculpture.
I am very excited about a new Gallery showing my sculptures - Illumigarden in Mill Valley. Illumigarden has a beautiful and inspirational garden with steel, wood and ceramic sculptures and wall art. So, if you are in Marin County make sure to stop by and enjoy the atmosphere of this place and discover art work from many different artists including my work (Ancient Moai, Moai Al Fresco, Flow, Three Lightning and Seven Wood Chakras)
