An exciting part of opening the new showroom in Venice, CA is choosing the art!
Michael Bauermeister creates stunning sculptures out of wood to capture the aspects of nature that he loves. Ripples in the water, pebbles on the shore and a twist of vines are a few examples of his inspiration.
To create the large works, he glues together layers of wood and hollows out the insides as he goes, then he sculpts the whole thing into a free-form shape. If he wants it perfectly round he turns the piece on a lathe, he also sometimes uses power tools to cut away sections to create an open piece. Countless tool marks become a part of the texture and beauty of the sculpture.
“Wood has become my voice and my language. Over years spent making things both useful and useless out of wood, the physical work of sawing, turning and polishing has become my contemplation. The real effort is in figuring out what to make next. Sometimes the wood itself makes a suggestion. Sometimes I work just to keep my hands occupied. And sometimes it all comes together into a kind of wooden poem.”
A couple of his sculptures are in our California studio.