Wouter van der Vlugt

Wouter van der Vlugt’s abstract wooden sculptures take their inspiration from nature. They explore the relationship between form, light, and matter through an interplay between fullness and emptiness, weight and lightness, and organic and geometric structures.

Wouter van der Vlugt, artist and craftsman

Dutch artist Wouter van der Vlugt was born in 1970 and lives and works in Luxembourg. His Sixthfloor studio, which he shares with five other artists, is located in a former sawmill surrounded by nature. His journey into sculpture began as a child in his father’s carpentry workshop, where he first learned to shape wood. Initially crafting furniture, his creations gradually shed their functional purpose as he turned towards sculpture, developing his own style over the years.

The craft aspect is still very much present in Wouter van der Vlugt’s work, and he says: “The work of a sculptor is first and foremost the work of a craftsman: there’s a whole technical side to it, handling the tools, the knowledge and understanding of materials… Craftsmanship is a prerequisite for being able to work as a sculptor. On the one hand, there’s the craftsman and the physical work with the material; on the other, there’s the artist who never stops: he looks, he observes, he learns from his own work, he develops ideas, and he evolves.”

A play of shapes, light and materials

Nature is Wouter van der Vlugt’s main inspiration. His early fascination with underwater biology has influenced the forms he explores today in his work as a sculptor. The artist sees his work as a dialogue between nature, whose elegance and finesse of organic forms are in his view unequalled, and man, who produces more geometric and Cartesian forms.

Wouter van der Vlugt’s wooden sculptures are carved deep into their mass as if the artist wanted to bring out the true nature, the essence of the material. In his hands, the wood undergoes a remarkable transformation. He carves deep into each massive, heavy piece to create a light, airy sculpture. The harmonious balance of voids and solids, light and shadow, imbues his abstract sculptures with a sense of movement.

Wood, a living natural material

“Wood is the material I learned to work with when I was young, and it’s the one I’ve grown to love. It is and always will be my material.”

With these words, Wouter van der Vlugt explains his predilection for wood, a living and often ancient material that he approaches with great respect. He values the natural characteristics of the wood: its smell, texture, and feel. The contemporary sculptor works exclusively with local species. His choice is based more on the size of the trunks in which he sees potential than on the type of tree. Walnut, oak, poplar, lime, elm… the species does not define the sculpture, nor its form: on the one hand, it is the artist who imposes his will on the material, and on the other, it is the wood that directs the artist’s work, with its imperfections, its shapes, its knots, its blackened elements.

The creative process often begins with a series of sketches to clarify the idea. He then sets them aside as he moves on to the three-dimensional work on his chosen piece of wood. Wouter van der Vlugt first roughs it out with chainsaws, then carves it by hand with chisels and gouges. Finally, it is sanded with a rasp, file and sandpaper. Finishing is often natural, with beeswax or oil. The entire creative process takes several months and can extend over more than a year for monumental pieces.

Wouter van der Vlugt has been exhibiting in galleries, fairs and biennales in Europe since the 2000s. His work has been selected by prestigious events dedicated to excellence in craft and artistic creation: in 2017 and 2019 by Révélations, the international biennial of crafts and creation at the Grand Palais (Paris, France) and in 2022, for the Homo Faber exhibition at the Giorgio Cini Foundation (Venice, Italy).