How to Make It
Abstractions in Wood
For LA artist-designer Vincent Pocsik, the medium is the message
“What is the connection between a branch on the ground and a lion, or a flower and a human?” For LA-based Vincent Pocsik, the interconnectedness of all things—both matter and energy—is the motivating force behind his distinct body of work. For the better part of the last decade, as his career has reoriented from his architectural training toward a more artistic practice, he has attracted a devoted following through the creation of sculptural wood forms abstracted and collaged from elements of the natural world, especially human anatomy. In his hands, using both digital and manual processes, wood becomes fluid, stretching and twisting to reveal a basic truth: “everything comes from the same atoms.”
While Pocsik’s work explores profound philosophical concepts, he hasn’t abandoned his roots in design thinking and functionality. His Anatomical Torsion collection, for example, produced for Twentieth Gallery, encompasses hanging, standing, and wall-mounted lights, all which reference the flesh of human torsos, the home of the human heart and an abiding symbol of the primacy of intuition over reason. As is his signature, the wood objects in this collection have been both CNC milled and hand carved before finishing with painterly surfaces treatment of dyes, bleach, rust vinegar, and tannins, resulting in a tension that at once honors and obscures the innate beauty of the material. ◆