Tom Eckert is a sculptor who works with only carved and painted wood to create his art. Sounds simple doesn't it? But if you take a look at Tom Eckert's website you'll soon come to appreciate the possibilities that can come from these basic materials and methods.
I love how the sculptures "fool the eye" and create their own fantastical scenes that play with your notions of "reality." The pieces also reward viewers for being careful observers.
From the artist:
"Forms carved to suggest cloth recur in many of my pieces. By tradition, cloth has been widely used to conceal and shroud objects in practices ranging from advertising to church rituals. Covered forms are often more evocative - with a sense of mystery absent from the uncovered object by itself. I remember in church one Lent, as a child, being mystified while gazing at the statues shrouded with purple cloth.
Since childhood, I have been curious about and amused by mistaken impressions of reality presented as part of my visual experiences. One of my earliest recollections, on a car trip, was my perception of the wet, slick highway ahead that turned out to be an illusion, a mirage. The revelation that I was fooled, visually and intellectually tricked, stuck with me. This visual deception is now the basis for my creative direction. “Cloth” carved of wood has much different structural qualities than real cloth. When this idea is applied to my compositions (floating book, floating cards, floating rock) a sense of the impossible happens - for me, magic."
Check out Tom Eckert's website for more images of his work!
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