Friedemann Bühler / Objects

In Friedemann Bühler’s sculptural works his material, wood, unfolds an eminently expressive, mysterious beauty. He carefully selects the suitable trees, mostly ash or sycamore maple, to create his bowls and vessels as one-of-a-kind pieces or in small series. Right after a tree has been cut in the forest, the artist roughly shapes his pieces by means of a chain saw and an axe and then takes them to his atelier to process them further. First he soaks the pieces in water and then shapes them on a lathe while the wood is still wet. When it dries, the wood develops asymmetrical shapes and sometimes even small cracks. Bühler dyes his bowls in puristic black or lively red, or he bleaches it so as to obtain the color of ivory. By means of brushing and sandblasting he reveals the grain of the wood as a charming pattern of delicate lines. Thanks to their plain and distinct formal idiom, Friedemann Bühler’s wooden objects have something archaic and at the same time modern about them.