Wooden

Bruno Walpoth-Should I  http://www.walpoth.com/wood.html 

Much of my fascination with art centers around representations of people. I enjoy that peculiar “uncanny valley” sensation that one gets from looking at something that appears human but not quite. There seems to be something singular about human-like objects, a strange quality that turns a mirror on the audience, evoking sympathy and, at times, discomfort. At their most effective, these objects force the audience to contemplate what exactly it is that separates them from this mirror-image, what humanity actually means. Bruno Walpoth's statues are especially effective to this end. His wooden figures never seem to be doing anything in particular; instead, they just encase this strange sense of being. What most inspires me is the tension between the delicate, familiar features that almost transcend the medium and the unsmoothed surface that reminds the onlooker “Yes, you are, in fact, staring at a piece of wood.” I am enthralled by the way the chalky, unfinished look seems to carry a metaphor of people as constructions, as projects, or better yet, as works-in-progress.