Ernst Gamperl often begins with a rough idea of form, but says he only truly discovers what lies within once the bark is removed. ‘Sometimes I choose to emphasise it, to bring out its beauty,’ he says. ‘Other times I cut it away if it disrupts the object or doesn’t serve it.’ The process becomes, in his words, a constant, vibrant dialogue.
This instinctive way of working has long defined his practice, but in Urkraft that dialogue takes on a deeper, more reverent tone. The pieces, created over the past three years, are shaped by what he describes as a new force and a different mode of expression. Winner of the first Loewe Craft Prize in 2017, he describes the trees as ‘silent companions’ and recalls sensing within them ‘an ancient, immense power and wisdom.’ The title — the German expression for primordial force — pays tribute to this idea. ‘No other word so deeply captures this primal energy that has dwelled in trees since the very beginning,’ he explains.
