Conrad Sarzynick

Transforming wood into sculpture is an act of discovery. What can be done with a log full of cracks, a knotted burl, a precut plank, or even a half-rotted stump? What will the final piece look like? The particular characteristics of a piece of wood determine what I will cut away and what I will keep. As I am working, each new curve or angle carved from the wood reveals what the next step will be. Each wandering crack is a new challenging clue. Like a dinosaur bone buried in earth, the sculpture is in there somewhere, and I will find it.

I create my sculptures as starting points for the imagination. I capture glimpses of hidden worlds that peek around the edges of everyday reality. When the opportunity arises, they unfold fully formed and strangely familiar. And even though we do not always know what is going on, we do know something IS going on.

In my more abstract pieces I create shapes reminiscent of natural forces, of birds and fish and currents of wind, that welcome multiple interpretations. I enjoy when someone tells me they see something in one of my sculptures that I didn’t even consider. My work is about discovery, both during the process of making and in experiencing a finished piece.