Ernst Gamperl - Untitled

Ernst Gamperl

2024
Oak
50 x 53 diam cm | 19.7 x 20.9 diam in.

Ernst Gamperl won the first Loewe Craft Prize in 2017 in recognition of his craftsmanship, and he has exhibited at numerous international art fairs including Design Miami, PAD London, FOG San Francisco and TEFAF Maastricht. His work is also part of many international collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK; The Loewe Foundation, Spain; Fond National d’art Contemporain, France; Museé des Arts Décoratifs de la Ville de Lausanne, Switzerland; The International Design Museum/Neue Sammlung, Germany; Collection Issey Miyake, Japan; and Amorepacific Museum of Art, Korea. His solo museum exhibition, Dialogue with Wood, opened at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur in Switzerland in 2019 and toured to the Korean Craft Museum in the Spring of 2020. In Spring 2025, Ernst will open Sarah Myerscough’s new Gallery space in London with a solo exhibition.

Ernst Gamperl has revolutionised the practice of woodturning by developing entirely new modes of working that push the material to its technical limits. The artist principally uses the mighty European Oak tree and carefully selects his immense logs from sustainable sources. Ernst turns the Oak when it’s green and supple, to work in dialogue with the wood before arriving at a final shape; he is an expert in its drying properties and prophetically reads its movement as the sculpture finds its undulating form. The immanent expressive power of the material is underscored by Ernst’s treatment of the surfaces. He waxes, polishes and carves filigree parallel grooves, contrasting smooth and shiny areas with rough-hewn, deeply scarred sections or ruptures of empty space. These enriching elements draw us ever closer to the piece; the profundity of the work lies in Ernst’s ability to mine the emotional resonance and durability that already lies within the wood.