Portrait photo of Arcangelo Ambrosi, pipemaker and wood sculptor
Who am I

I explore wood in its multiple “dimensions”, through the pleasure of the technique and of the search for ideas, which proceeds, in my job, as a sort of discovery game.

a Bio

I’m Arcangelo Ambrosi, born in 1988, I works and live in Bitonto, Puglia.
Self-taught specialized in the art of wood, I use multiple modeling and carving techniques to create functional and non-functional objects, sometimes infusing them with a surreal and bizarre mood.

My educational background is scientific, and I obtained a three-year degree in Computer Science and Software production technologies.

At the end of my studies I felt the need for a change of
path to take me back to the dimension of manual creativity.

a The Pipe

The pipe, “eminent expression of the kingdom of lifeless things”, as Dino Buzzati wrote, is the protagonist of my research work, and my particular interest is tied not only to its being a functional object, or rather an experience object, but also to its incredible variety of characteristics, such as preciousness, ritual, tactile and aesthetic dimensions.

 

My purpose is, of course, to achieve the high standards a refined smoking pipe should comply with, but also to transform its identity through sculpture, with bizarre and surreal experiments.

While staying rigorously “smokable”, the pipe is twisted, something happens to it. Something mysterious: it can be concealed by a fluctuating voile, or turn into an animal, it can change its consistency, or twirl into a knot.

 

a Sculpture works

I alternate between study of the pipe and sculptural works, to convey different wooden essences, further expression freedoms, and plays of metamorphosis, in which I try to make the envisaged subject talk to the wood.

This is not only a medium to give shape to ideas, or a blank canvas: this is nature longing to come out. Branches, knots, roots, grains often become fundamental elements in the figure, as disruptive anatomical parts