I grew up with equally compelling interests in art and nature, the latter of which lead to a career as a physician. My interest in wood, a material with living texture, no doubt derives from my background in biology, but also from a family craft tradition spanning five generations of skilled furniture makers. (Perhaps I represent a case of a furniture gene-gone-bad). Without formal training, I have gradually taught myself the craft. I am unusually drawn to the challenge of giving physical form to unique shapes that appear first in imagination. I love the great material diversity of wood: each species has different colors, grains, properties. The variety of organic shapes into which wood naturally grows, and the character-giving knots and imperfections stretch imagination into new territory. The process begins initially with the harvesting of a promising log, then transforming that rustic cylinder of wood with chainsaws, chisels, rasps, and files into sculptural forms. Some pieces take hundreds of hours to complete.
The processes and cycles (including attractions, instincts, birth, death) of natural creation are astonishing to me, as well as how life has so gorgeously diversified. Expressing elements of these cycles and creation of living things, whether they be a seed pod or a pregnant woman is a recurrent theme in my works. I am interested not only in the shapes of the rhythms and life cycles of living things, but also the shapes of our emotional responses to the natural world in which we evolved. I believe the archetypal imagery of nature is meaningful to us and is relevant to the creative process. I also like to wonder about the “shapes” of specific moments, such as the bursting open of a seed pod. My sculptures also reflect my great curiosity about our origins: organic, ancestral, and cultural.
With my sculpture I want to generate curiosity and allurement. I like there to be an element of surprise. I enjoy exploring both abstract and realistic forms (usually human figures), and sometimes both blended together, a style I refer to as “organic surrealism”. Part of the challenge is to integrate opposing imagery and the tensions created therein. Treacherous forms search for harmonious cohabitation amongst nurture forms. A whale and a cocoon and pollen may all fuse together into one form.
“Origins (Expecting II)”, 46″h x 19″ x 14″, walnut
About the artist
Originally a psychiatrist, sculptor Andrew Fullwood of Chapel Hill, NC is a master carver from a family of five generations of furniture makers originally from Hickory, NC.
Additional resources
- Flickr – Installation images
- artsee Live – Andrew Fullwood – An interview with Andrew Fullwood.
- Gallery Guide -On issuu