Dialogue with wood

Ernst Gamperl trained as a carpenter before discovering and intensively pursuing his passion for woodturning. He received the Bavarian State Prize for his distinctive formal language at his 1992 debut at the International Crafts Fair in the special exhibition “TALENTS – Creative Crafts.” Since then, the Galerie Handwerk has followed his career through exhibition participations and invitations, for example, to EXEMPLA 2002.

Ernst Gamperl’s artistic work is characterized by an evolutionary exploration, gradually expanding his formal vocabulary. He systematically analyzes all levels of the manufacturing process and experimentally tests them through his tireless research into the details: He develops special tools and uses them to explore the static properties of the material in the thinnest of walls. His quest for tall, sculptural vessels involves lathes he has specially modified. Countless experiments with texture, as well as with mineral pigments and limestone, which react with the wood’s constituents, pave the way for the most subtle plays of light and surprising surface structures. This lends the vessels a profound saturation and heaviness that stands in stark contrast to the dynamic lightness of the form.

In the course of his work, he explores various types of wood, even working with wood while still wet. Through precise study of the material, he developed countless possibilities for placing an “object” within the trunk, thereby influencing its final form. He deliberately intervenes in the wood’s natural shrinkage process during drying, transforming the originally axially symmetrical vessels created in rotation into idiosyncratically shaped, sculptural objects. This intensive exploration of the possibilities of his medium, wood, leads to unprecedented results that inspire and amaze us.

In the course of this work, he developed a distinctive language of his own, one in which he maintains an intense dialogue with wood to this day. Each result of his tireless work reveals a new statement in this traditional technique, a distinctive signature that has delighted international audiences. We are honoring this renowned artist with a solo exhibition on the occasion of his 60th birthday. An intensive supporting program, also in collaboration with the Bavarian National Museum, where his project “Tree of Life” is being shown concurrently, and the Danner Foundation, rounds out this retrospective.