Touching Wood

I accidentally stumbled upon the website of the Italian sculptor Bruno Walpoth and fell in love with his work. His sculptures all of which look quite pensive and deep in thought, seem to invite the viewer to touch them.

Although these are life-sized human figures, you know they are not real. Some of these sculptures are simply too pale and they are often coated with semi-translucent paint so the wood grain remains partly visible and looking closer, you can see rougher parts where his chisel has worked the wood. But God, how stunningly beautiful they are!!

The Embroidered portraits of Cayce Zavaglia

Although most of us think of embroidery as a somewhat boring pastime, Cayce Zavaglia has taken this hobby to a higher level; a (reinvented) art form.
Cayce, originally trained as a painter, now makes the most stunning visual art with cotton and silk or wool.

Illusion of paint strokes
She sews threads of different sizes and colors into a complex layering of stitches, which cross in the direction of each other. This not only creates an illusion of depth and volume, but also mimics the brush strokes and tones of classic oil paintings.

And if you think that's amazing, you should take a look at the back of her portraits, where the complexity of stiches with all the loose ends and knots gives you the impression that the soul of her subject is exposed.


Verso from Jesse Brass on Vimeo.