"Injury, recovery and metamorphosis are the basic themes in Aron Demetz’s oeuvre."
Aron Demetz was born in 1972 in the North Italian town of Sterzing in South Tyrol, a small place in the Dolomites enclosed by forests. He grew up close to nature and woodcraft was naturally a discipline practiced by many people around him.
As a 14-year-old boy, Demetz went to the Wolkenstein (Selva) school of art to learn the woodcutting trade. In the course of his training, he became increasingly aware of the expressive and artistic power of this material and thus he chose to become a wood carver. A few years later he completed his vocational training at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Nürnberg.
The principal motif in his work is the human form. He starts by sawing forms out of huge trunks and blocks of cedar, maple or walnut with a chainsaw. Then he proceeds to carve the wood and to add details to the statues. Grinding, sanding or gouging, he creates different structures in the ‘skin’ of the statue or adds materials such as resin. Sometimes he chars the wood using a flame-thrower. The statues are given their own surface structure, personalising the form as it were.
The latest development in the artist’s work is the use of the computer, which enables him to mill out the forms. He then works the resulting smooth surfaces to create a tension between a neutral and a personal feel that he lends to the work.
Injury, recovery and metamorphosis are the basic themes in Aron Demetz’s oeuvre.