Would you like to see a Willy?

Don't be silly.  I know what some of you are thinking

and even I wouldn't push my luck quite that far.

A Willy Verginer is what I'm on about today.

 

Willy in his studio.

 

Willy was born on 23rd February 1957 in Bressanone,

in the Province of Bolzano, Italy but apart from that

I can tell you very little of his formative years and education.

What I can, however, show you is some of his beautiful

artwork.  Sculpture to be more precise.

 

I wonder if he uses masking tape to get the lines straight?

 

For the most part he creates wonderful, life sized figures from

solid pieces of linden wood in his studio in Ortisei, South Tyrol.

But what makes his pieces stand apart is that he doesn't just

carve them, he then goes on to pimp them up with the

rather peculiar addition of other materials and, almost always,

larges swathes of acrylic colour.  Not in a realistic way

but as if dipped into a huge vat of pigment.

 

Looks like selective jaundice to me.

 

 

Willy's figures can be isolated or in groups according to how

the muse takes him and it's not unusual for them to be in

bizarre poses or coupled with unrelated objects giving his work

a quietly surreal atmosphere.

 

Surely not the Von Trapp family strayed over into Italy.

 

One series of figures was given the Italian title

"a fior di pelle" which roughly translated comes out as

"flowers of the skin".  The models all have youth on their side

and appear to be emerging from a covering of blooms

like buds about to blossom.  Each represents in its own way,

and in his inimitable style, the poetic fragility of youth and

the ability to dream.
 

Pass the spray, I've just spotted an aphid.

 

 Seeing is believing.  Touching is exquisite.

A Willy up close and personal leaves no one indifferent

to it's charms (with or without hare)!

 

Let's not split hares, they always come in two's.