Max Brosi
All images courtesy of the artist
My work is in a constant state of evolution towards a more raw, honest, and calm aesthetic. Everything is in a state of transience, wood warps, metal corrodes. The result of these natural processes is a heightened aesthetic character in the material. The static becomes dynamic, the perfect becomes imperfect. Many years of working with wood has taught me to design movement into my work by utilizing the natural tendency of wet oak to warp as it dries. Sandblasting reveals the hidden three dimensional texture of the grain and rays. I use simple geometric forms like cylinders and spheres, frequently turned over several axis on the lathe, to explore a visual concept and tell a story. This story can be a social or political commentary, or often just a simple exploration of form. The distortion and texture of the warped wood breathes life into the starkness of geometric form and softens the brutality of cold, rusty steel. This tension between materials excites me.
Max Brosi lives and works in the North West of Ireland. After training as a furniture designer at The Furniture College, Letterfrack, Brosi’s work expanded to boatbuilding and hollow wooden surfboard construction. For the past several years Brosi has specialized in sculptural forms, turned, carved, and sandblasted from green oak, often in combination with rusty steel elements. His work focuses heavily on the tension between stark geometric forms and the natural distortion of green wood as it dries. Since 2014 Brosi’s work has earned several Irish and international accolades including recently winning the woodturning category of the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) National Craft Awards in Ireland and having received an Excellence Award at the AAW symposium in Pittsburgh. His work is included in several private collections in Great Britain, Germany, and the USA.
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