Introduction
Human Wood Sculpture
Leo Pruijt, from Amersfoort in The Netherlands, is specialised in human wood sculpture. He uses big logs of beautiful, local wood, like linden, oak and walnut. The combination of human form and wood grain results in unique, natural sculptures.
Sculpting in wood combines two of his passions. First, creating itself; transforming new ideas into realistic sculptures. Second, working in wood, with its endless variation in character, structure and colour. Wood gives an extra dimension to a sculpture.
However, it is not the wood that inspires him to start a carving. On the contrary, he select a piece of wood based on his design. It takes a lot of inspiration and perspiration to transform an idea into a design and finally a shape in wood. Carving takes a lot of time and hard working, but the same result cannot be achieved in any other material.
"I bought my first 'serious' carving tools as a student. From the very moment I started carving, I was hooked! Sculpting and carving became a big part of my life. The human figure has always been a source of inspiration and gradually I have specialised myself in human torsos and portraits."