Carving wood to give it fine and delicate forms is hard work, and Gabriel Schama is one of the few virtuosos of this craft.
This New Zealand artist hypnotizes Instagram with his wooden sculptures looking straight out of a kaleidoscope. He achieves the stunning finesse of carving using nothing less than a laser cutter — and because this cutter is so indispensable for his art he has even given it a name: Elise.
Schama says he draws inspiration from the decorations of cathedrals or watchmaking and first tried to cut pieces of paper with a scalpel to achieve intricate designs. However, it is in the wood that the artist found his main source of inspiration and he regularly shares on Instagram monumental wood carving art pieces which require long hours of work.
Like a team, Gabriel explains that he and “Elise” are working together to accomplish one goal: “pushing the outer limits of the abstract kaleidoscopic form.” To make these creations seem straight out of a completely geometric world, the artist first makes vector illustrations representing each layer. Then the laser cutter slices the wood planks following the drawings of Schama, and finally, each piece is glued by hand, giving birth to a 3D work in which the eye is lost as the level of detail is accurate.
