Currently living and working in the idyllic town of Urtijëi, Italy, sculptor Willy Verginer shares a closeness with his environment in both technique and concept. His surreal wooden sculptures are carved from a single linden tree trunk with incredible precision and detail. Although their features are classical, Verginer paints bold stripes of color across his figures and poses them in awkward positions, making them completely contemporary. Previously covered here, he’s often paired his figures of women, men, and young children with other animals and objects that don’t fit together. His most recent pieces, which are on currently view at Galerie Van Campen & Rochtus in Belgium, pairs them with oil barrels. The gray or metallic color of the barrels transfer to the person or animal they are touching, forming a connection between natural and unnatural. Verginer calls this an act of “aggression,” representing mankind’s pollution of the world around him. As in his sculpture of a fawn, “Between idyllic and reality” (Tra idillico e realta), Verginer also introduces elements like a scaled down landscape or trees. By making something as grand as a forest small in size, the artist points to its fragility and pleas to his viewers to protect it. Take a look at Verginer’s most recent works below, on view at Galerie Van Campen & Rochtus through June 28th.
