Thread: Tom Eckert - Sculptor

None of it looks like wood to me. Maybe some sort of soft plastic?
I like wood for the qualities that wood can display.

That's the point...it IS wood. All of it. (Plus a bit of paint)

Granted, timber has characteristics that you try to use in a carving or sculpture, but I think he's aiming more for shape and form than traditional wood features.

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

That's the point...it IS wood. All of it. (Plus a bit of paint)

Granted, timber has characteristics that you try to use in a carving or sculpture, but I think he's aiming more for shape and form than traditional wood features.

As with many of his others, I have trouble believing that this is wood. (Titled 'Nightwatch'):

Night Watch - Tom Eckert.JPG

I've been hunting around trying to find reports of falsehood in his statements and works and have come up completely blank so far.

I've also tried to find some video or multi-angle shots of some works thinking that the paint work might be the "deception" you're feeling. Again, there's not much out there, but on his site there are a few shots of the same piece from different angles...but I'm still not sure if the shadows are painted or not. Being able to walk around a piece would tell. I also assume the "transparent" pieces are just paintings on the wood too.

Without evidence to the contrary, I'm personally 99.9% positive that it's all legit work and brilliant illusions. He's a teacher/professor at a school of art and has/had pieces on show in galleries and museums...if it was fake surely he would have been picked up by now.

There's a single video of him out there but it doesn't show much I'm afriad.
Wooden Illusions - YouTube

There is a piece called Ghost Clock done by Wendell Castle that has this illusion of fabric too...and it's all wood.
Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle / American Art


Is there still doubt about timber being be sculpted so well as to look like fabric? Then I've got one final word for you:
MARBLE
http://i.imgur.com/1qBvWhW.jpg
http://muttslikeme.files.wordpress.c...eiled-lady.jpg
File:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450 cropncleaned edit.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


If there's anything out there that proves these pieces are fake (as in, not entirely sculpted and painted timber) I'd love to see it. Really. I'd hate to be backing this guy just to find out I've been fooled big time.

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Is there still doubt about timber being be sculpted so well as to look like fabric?

Assuming it is all wood, he's much more of a painter than a sculptor. The ones that are obviously wood are very good, but really it's the painting that makes many of his pieces and not the carving.

Personally, I like carvings that show and accentuate the natural features of the timber, rather than mask it with paint.

Originally Posted by Hermit

but really it's the painting that makes many of his pieces and not the carving.

I can agree with that.

While I still think that the sculpting is fantastic, it is the painting that really brings the pieces to life. The wood and sculpting could be seen as just the medium on which the painting is done. I suppose you could call it a 3D painting.

In the same range of ultrarealism, I prefer Christian Renonciat, who let the grain shows.
But amazing technique, indeed.

Visite - Christian Renonciat

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

I can agree with that.

While I still think that the sculpting is fantastic, it is the painting that really brings the pieces to life. The wood and sculpting could be seen as just the medium on which the painting is done. I suppose you could call it a 3D painting.

I didn't mean to detract too much from his sculpting skill, I certainly couldn't reproduce his carvings, and he has found a good medium for his painting.
Still won't make me weep, though. It's not really to my taste.
Many people obviously love his work, so it's horses for courses, I guess.

Originally Posted by copeau

In the same range of ultrarealism, I prefer Christian Renonciat, who let the grain shows.
But amazing technique, indeed.

Visite - Christian Renonciat

I have to agree - he creates similar textures in timber as Eckert, but without the paint obscuring the natural features.

All said and done, if I could carve half as well as either of these guys I'd be pretty happy. (I wouldn't paint mine.)

I like this, by Renonciat, in cèdre rouge, (is that red cedar?): -

108.jpg

Originally Posted by copeau

Visite - Christian Renonciat

Man, that's amazing stuff too. The great thing about showing the timber is that you can really, and easily, appreciate the craftsmanship that's gone into the piece.



These ultra-real artists blow my mind. With some of the pen (ball point/Biro) portraits and drawings I've seen, I'd almost swear they were photographs and sometimes have had to look pretty closely to believe they weren't.

Ultra-Realistic Ballpoint Pen Drawings Look Like Photos! | Fstoppers
Galería | DIBUJO | Juan Francisco Casas

Mr Eckert is very obviously a master carver, sculptor and artist. Why wouldn't someone paint a carving? We have plenty of historical precedent, both so called primitive and fine western art. Just because a potter puts an expensive glaze a on poorly shaped pot , it's still a poorly shaped pot. The paint in this case takes the sculpture to another level for me.

I have no objection at all to paint/stain/wax/etc on a wood carving.
By using basswood/linden/limewood, Eckert has chosen a medium which allows pretty much carving freedom in terms of technical wood puzzles.

My tastes are mostly in my mouth. However, I am attracted to carvings which display an incorporation of wood grain qualities in the design.

Look in the Toys Forum for the Monster Trucks that "oneye" has made. Notice the use of wood grain in the tire tread pattern. I guess it was pine and it works.

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

Why wouldn't someone paint a carving? The paint in this case takes the sculpture to another level for me.

My thoughts as well...I'm guessing mr Eckert is more interested in the concept than the medium...lovely stuff....a new level indeed

Originally Posted by underfoot

My thoughts as well...I'm guessing mr Eckert is more interested in the concept than the medium...lovely stuff....a new level indeed

Alright... But the medium or some of its specifications must have some importance in the concept, or he should have use a blanket directly instead of carving one, no ?
Here are some pict of Jean Charles Dotigny, an artist who "carved" and painted blankets.
100_5571.JPGtrypique.jpg100_5573.JPG