At the age of 13, he first picked up wood by the sea, was mercilessly ridiculed by the people around him, and for 36 years he "did not do his job", and the ridicule and ridicule were never broken.
Now he shocks the world with his works, not only being snatched up, but also chasing him all over the world.
He was James Doran-Webb, an English guy whose mother was a painter and whose father was a carpenter, who had an affinity for wood carving since childhood.
At a very young age, he aspired to become a carpenter, and in order to learn the art, he left his hometown alone to go to Switzerland.
When he first came to Switzerland, everything was fresh, but as time went on, he felt bone-eating loneliness.
Whenever he was lonely, he ran to Lake Geneva and quietly looked at the blue sea, ups and downs.
At high tide, some decaying wood always drifts to the shore with the tide, and looking at the drifting decaying wood, he has a deep resonance.
"Being in a foreign land, alone, without a place to live, floating everywhere."
He had compassion.
"When I come to a foreign land, at least I still have one day to go back, but these decaying trees can only wait for decay."
When he saw the decaying wood, it was like seeing himself with the same disease, so he made a crazy decision:
Take home all this decaying wood that no one wants.
At first, the master was strenuously opposed:
"The wood has been soaked for too long to be carved, and it's completely garbage."
But he was stubborn, "Any garbage is a misplaced treasure." ”
However, stubborn and stubborn, as more and more decaying wood was picked up, the family could not hold these decaying wood, and he did not know how to deal with it, and finally he could only listen to the master's words and throw them away.
But just as the garbage truck was about to leave with decaying wood, he ran up and picked up a piece of decaying wood from the garbage heap.
In the face of this strangely shaped and flawed decaying wood, James appreciates a strange beauty:
"Decaying wood that has been weathered by wind and sun, there is a curve that cannot be created by unnatural forces, the most expensive wood in the forest, it is impossible to make such wonderful lines."
Decaying, curved, glassy, isn't that what characterizes these decaying woods?
He suddenly realized:
These decaying woods are fundamentally different from wood, and they can't do furniture made of wood, but they can do things other than wood.
James, who was instantly enlightened, decided to challenge himself.
He chose to carve animals.
"Animism, natural decaying wood, should be used to make natural things."
He looked closely at each piece of decaying wood and found that they themselves had their own shape, and you see how this hole resembled the eyes of a horse.
This one is like limbs, that one is like a tail... On the basis of their respective shapes, he pieced together and combined.
Fixed with a metal frame, the galloping horse is born!
It seems that there are not many steps.
But every step requires a huge amount of painstaking effort.
"The loneliness I've experienced is finding the most suitable piece of wood among thousands of decaying trees."
This process is like finding a needle in a haystack, as long as there is a little disagreement in any piece, it will never be solved, and it must be tried again and again until all the dead wood has been tried once to pass.
In the beginning, I started with small animal sculptures and explored the art of decaying wood.
Gradually expand to the part of the large sculpture, do a good job in each part, the overall effect will be good.
Tried to make some small and medium-sized decaying wood sculptures, and after 99 failures, finally succeeded.
"Although this challenge is very bitter and constantly overturned, it can give my heart a great peace of mind."
After 36 years of grinding in the warehouse, he launched the first large-scale sculpture of decaying wood.
He didn't disappoint the audience.
As soon as the work was launched, it shocked the world, the media reported it one after another, the TV station also came to interview, and the most exaggerated thing was that some people rushed from abroad, just to witness the true appearance of the work!
People who came to see it were shocked by its beauty:
"It feels like he can travel on a dinosaur ride..."
"This is the most shocking piece of wood I've ever seen."
"Is this still the decaying wood on the seashore, and there is no shadow of the decaying wood at all."
He sits on a tree and holds the dragon's neck, reminiscent of A Song of Ice and Fire, and he is like a magical creator who can control the dragon.
His work attracted countless attention, and orders were placed on him in both Switzerland and England.
Many rich people want to buy and customize privately, but he says that he does not accept private customization of large-scale works because he only wants to make the sculptures he wants to make.
"I'd rather not make this money than make a cold sculpture in the garden of the rich, like a soulless boulder."
He just wanted to sculpt for love, for animism.
These decaying woods were once garbage on the seashore, and no one wanted to give them away.
But once he was stained, the decaying wood turned into magic, and his value increased by more than ten thousand times.
Because it was so popular, in order to buy, customers had to follow in his footsteps in doing exhibitions around the world to grab his works.
Because it is made of natural decaying wood, each one is a unique product.
Coupled with his works, each of which cost at least 1,000 to 3,000 hours, the price of the works is naturally very expensive.
His hometown had wanted to buy it, but he refused without mercy.
The reason is that he wants to surprise his hometown.
He spent 4,000 hours, 520 kilograms of metal, 1,800 screws, 460 bolts, 380 kilograms of decaying wood, and made a free horse for his hometown.
Not only that, but he also did something shocking:
Taking out most of the income from wood carving, a total of 80,000 trees were purchased and planted in Britain and Switzerland.
This is his return to his hometown, but also to nature.
Decaying wood, taken from nature, is now to be returned to nature.
This is his agreement with nature, and it is also the most basic human brilliance of being a human being.
There is an old Chinese saying, "Rotten wood cannot be carved.".
But James told everyone with his work:
There is no uncarvable decaying wood, only craftsmen who have not achieved the ultimate.
A pile of decaying wood, in front of a pair of delicate hands and a kind heart, has its own beauty and temperature.
Image credit: James Doran-Webb
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