TILL HERTLING ABOUT HIS WORK
"My workshop for me is like a laboratory, a place where I follow experimental set ups. A lot more important than a suitable piece of wood and the needed tools plus the handling of those is of course to have an idea and the urge to visualize it.
Before I start to sketch out an idea the most important thing is to listen very closely to the continues flow of thoughts spinning inside my head and deciding which are the relevant ones for my next piece of work. This is in so far a worthwhile thing to do as the way that I have decided to do my work is eleborate and time consuming.
A few years back the word „transition" inspired me to follow a path that was new to me. The subject of transformation has since then been a great source of inspiration. Maybe triggered by the process of me aging but for sure totally free from matters of believe.
When ever possible at all I try to carve my pieces out of one whole block including the base. It does make the work more complicated but adds in a rewarding way, a kind of wholeness to the overall impression.
To find a good and suitable piece of wood isn't so easy at all, especially when I want to make slightly bigger sculptures. Therefor I have so far chosen what ever I could get my hands on - be it a branch from the garden or an old roof beam. As long as what I want to come up with fits into this particular piece and i don't have to compromise too much. To avoid the so often unsuitable look of pure wooden surfaces I also like to use the popular method of treating wood with fire as it goes along very well with what I am looking for. Another cool material I discovered to treat surfaces with is ashes from a wood fire or graphite or chalk to disguise the wooden look without fully hiding it.
In all those years as a craftsman, be it as a furniture or a violin maker or working on a construction site, it was vital to reach a maximum amount of accuracy. In a certain way I took this experience in to my work as a sculptor realizing that only after you reach a certain degree of precision towards the moment you finish a piece an extra kind of value evolves. Only when this degree is reached, some slight deconstruction if not destruction can add a cool extra amount of tension.
For me a piece of work is succsessful when idependently from size and from what I am trying to express it stretches out in to space and attracts a potential viewer to explore it a little more in depth."
N° 3
2021
Charred Balsa Wood
3 pieces à 280 x 90 x 50 mm
Price on request
- Photo
- CV / CV (engl.)