Ernst Gamperl

Ernst Gamperl is self-taught in wood-carving techniques, having apprenticed as a carpenter before turning to art and spent over two decades studying the drying properties of wood to better understand the material’s natural make-up. Working primarily with fallen maple, beech, and oak, and selecting wood that he finds “full of character,” Gamperl allows branches, knots, and fractures in the wood to dictate the shape of his vessels, sculpting in conversation with his material—a slow give-and-take that minimizes evidence of the artist’s hand to reveal the power of the wood’s natural form. Gamperl names his works after the year they were constructed and the age of the tree from which the wood came, allowing viewers to not only meditate on the structure of the vessel, but also its origins.