Ernst Gamperl: Urkraft - Hardcover

by Ernst Gamperl (Author), Frank Matthias Kammel (Author), Antonia Boström (Author)

Ernst Gamperl is an internationally acclaimed artist who transforms wood into captivating sculptures. His deep connection with nature and respect for the material drive his innovative work, resulting in elegant and powerful pieces that evoke emotions and challenge perceptions. Text in English, Italian and German.

The relationship Ernst Gamperl, an artist of international renown, has developed with wood as a living material and the acknowledgment of inescapable serendipity are a source of creative inspiration as well as the driving forces behind his work - a work revolving around the artist's deep connection with nature and respect for his raw material. The wood worked by Gamperl sometimes comes from majestic trees tens or even hundreds of years old - grown in nature, it is nature that has often sent these unmistakable creatures crashing down.
Trees are an integral part of creation, symbols of life and strength that Gamperl has studied and "perceived" for many years in symbiosis with their essence and nature. His ability to combine an unconventional approach to the material with a revolutionary technique and an original interpretation honed over many years results in works that stand out for their elegance and charisma. Gamperl stretches technique to its limits in creating powerful sculptures that unfailingly stir the viewer, who discovers something never before encountered.

Text in English, Italian and German.

Author Biography

The monograph provides a comprehensive analysis of the life and work of Ernst Gamperl, tracing his extraordinary career spanning almost forty years. Born in Munich and trained as a carpenter, Gamperl taught himself to use his skills for artistic ends, attracting international attention very early on. Living and working in northern Italy was instrumental in his development, not to mention his proximity to Milan. Frequenting artists, musicians, designers, photographers, museum curators and gallery owners, he soon began to build a network of important partners. His works are exhibited in numerous museums and private collections around the world, including the Issey Miyake Collection in Japan, the LOEWE Foundation in Madrid, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Amorepacific Museum of Art in Seoul, the Fond National d'Art Contemporain in Paris, and the Neue Sammlung in Munich. Among his numerous awards, Gamperl was the very first winner of the LOEWE Craft Prize in 2017, one of the most important art prizes in the world.

Frank Matthias Kammel is a German art historian and General Director of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. He studied art history, classical archaeology and aesthetics at Humboldt University, specializing in medieval art. He worked at the National Museums in Berlin and at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, where he was also deputy director. Kammel appears as an expert on sculpture and religious folk art in the Bavarian television programme Kunst und Krempel.

Antonia Boström is an art historian and curator with a long career in major museums in Britain and the US, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Detroit Institute of Arts, the J. Paul Getty Museum and The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. She has specialized in the Baroque sculptor F.X. Messerschmidt, on whom she curated the Messerschmidt and Modernity exhibition at the Getty Museum. She serves on the expert panel of the LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize, and is a trustee of the Henry Moore Foundation.

Michele De Lucchi is an architect, designer and artist. He was one of the leading figures in Alchimia and Memphis and head of design at Olivetti from 1988 to 2002. He created Artemide's Tolomeo lamp, which won the Compasso d'Oro award in 1987. During his academic career, he taught at the IUAV University of Venice and the Milan Polytechnic. In 2018, he was Guest Editor at Domus magazine. In 2022, he was presented with the Compasso d'Oro award for lifetime achievement and in 2024 he was nominated Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. He is the founder and member of AMDL CIRCLE.