CARVING a name

LUCAS HAMANN was born in Luebeck, Germany, but has lived here in the Algarve since he was just one month old. His nature and upbringing may be German, but his heart, without question, is 100% Portuguese. His second career, as a wood sculptor, began with his love of nature – he was always happiest, he says, adventuring in the mountains, or the dense forestland, or just observing animals roaming free in the wild.

This is not an arts-educated young man – in fact, he was never interested in learning the classics; he is self-taught, experimenting from an early age with textures, form, and achieving an often surprising end result.

“When I was a small boy, around six or seven, I would make gifts for my parents or my brother – a spoon, perhaps, or a cutting board or a wooden pot, whatever came into my mind at that time,” he recalls. “My hands do show the scars from those early days and the results of my work were not always good then. But as I got older I learned through repeated practice how to work confidently with wood to achieve the very best results.

LUCAS HAMANN, 25, IS A DOCTOR HERE IN THE ALGARVE. BUT WHEN HE IS NOT TENDING TO HIS PATIENTS, HE IS ENGROSSED IN HIS SECOND PASSION, THAT OF BRINGING OLD WOOD TO NEW LIFE. HIS STUNNING WORK WILL GO ON SHOW AT ARTCATTO’S SUMMER EXHIBITION AT THE CONRAD, STARTING THIS MONTH

Words: SUSI ROGOL-GOODKIND

Pendulum of Presence: Made out of a 900-yearold olive tree, whose grain itself is a calendar of time.

110x110x 280cm

The Blossom: Carved out of one single almond trunk, this sculpture takes the tree back to what it once was. A blossoming flower in the winter of Portugal. The petal is made out of 24k gold-coated almond wood. 45x45x200cm

“In my teenage and young adult years, I distanced myself from the practical work and focused more on my studies to follow my parents’ footsteps and become a doctor – a long-held dream for me. It was while I was at University that I rediscovered my passion for working with wood.”

Lucas’s first ‘official’ piece was not a sculpture at all, but an abstract table made out of a pine root. “I loved it at the time,” he says, “but looking back now I recognise that I wouldn’t do it the same way again. People found it “attractive” and “interesting” but I was not able to sell it, so in the end I gifted it to the person who supported me in my early work.

“And the more I created practical pieces like tables, the less fun I had working on them. I felt caged in by objectivity, something, quite frankly, I have enough of in my day job. That is what awakened my love for contemporary abstract sculptures that allow my mind to run free. I found joy in embracing and preserving the natural beauty of a long dead tree, keeping and respecting its essence, and then diving into a world of imagination to create something that feels alive and youthful, where death and decay were its story for decades.”

Lucas, the proud father of a son of nearly three, is an Intern at the Hospital of Faro, and plans to specialise in psychiatry or rheumatology at the end of this year. For his chosen creative passion, he works in an open but covered workshop at his home in Paderne, surrounded by nature. Currently, he has a 40-hour-week at the hospital and a further 30-35 hours working with wood, sometimes until midnight after a full day with his patients.

100x70x280cm

Fragile Elegance: This tall sculpture honours the fragility of this old and rotten tree and gives it a new youthful personality, creating an equilibrium between old age and youth.

40x40x300cm

Seeing is believing

The largest work-in-progress piece is close to completion now, having taken an intense four months and 450 hours thus far. It is his proudest project to date – an eye – measuring 2.5m x 2m x 1.30m, made out of a 1,000-yearold olive tree-root, that was rotting for more than 30 years.

“It is my biggest challenge yet, since the degrading process had taken all over the root and I had to find and preserve nature’s beauty in the chaos,” he says. “Normally, I need to manipulate the wood until I get the result I want, but in this case, nature itself has created the most beautiful work of art. It is my job to make it understandable, and finding a balance between art and nature. It’s a humbling and thrilling experience.

“The piece, called Nature’s Eye, will have a 24k gold pupil in the midst of the iris. I will leave the interpretation of this piece open to the public, but there is quite a direct message in this sculpture.”

Lucas’s work is extraordinary, and unsurprisingly has been sold through some of the top interior designers in the Algarve. But now new doors are opening as some of his important pieces – six large works and one of gigantic proportions – will be part of ArtCatto’s summer collective at the Conrad Algarve, which opens this month. The opportunity guarantees valuable exposure and will certainly pave the way for Lucas to become part of the Lisbon art scene, and then an international name.

As well as being deeply inventive, Lucas has one great advantage over other creatives in that he derives his income from his job in the hospital and therefore has the freedom to adventure and experiment when it comes to his artistic interests.

Inspired thinking

“My inspiration comes from the beauty and calmness of nature that I can find in every hike or bike trail. But stressful days give me inspiration, too,” he says. “When I find ways to come back to a steady, quieter mindset, new ideas are formulated.”

All his pieces come from local found wood, from trees that have been dead long before he found them. And he finds them by his second love after sculpting… hiking in nature.

Once he has found a tree that interests him and shows promise – it could be as few as one out of 50 – he often spends two hours observing it, imagining forms, curves, potential, threats and impossibilities.

“I take a mental picture of it and continue the thinking process until I have found a purpose for the wood. Then comes the hard part of finding the owner and then transporting it to my workshop. Usually, by the time it is there, with me, and I can finally get my hands working on it, I have a vivid picture of what I want to create and how best to achieve it. Inevitably, problems will arise with the wood itself, turning what was a seemingly easy project into a mental and physical challenge.”

Rings of Time: Made from a 900-yearold olive tree, where the horizontal ring demonstrates the Past and the vertical the Future, always connected but still independent from each other, in a continuous dance of time.

160x110x170cm

Some sculptures can take him less than two weeks from start to finish, when he has time away from the hospital and the freedom to work every day and into the night. Sometimes he works on two or three pieces at the same time. “I would say my dream commission is being able to do what I want or see fit without external influences. I love creating pieces at my own pace.”

The second material Lucas works with is metal – every sculpture needs a personalized base to hold and stabilise it precisely where the artist wants and needs it. He mostly goes it alone, having learned the basics of metal work, but when complexities arise, a friend who is a professional welder helps.

“My most valued tool is my hands,” he says, “and next an angle grinder for wood, because of its multi-utility purpose and high power output. That said, I still start every project with a hammer and chisel. The most rewarding moment is when a sculpture is almost ready and awaits the last process – the Finish. It may be some natural oil, or beeswax or varnish… the grain suddenly explodes and begins to look alive, giving the sculpture, in a matter of an hour, a totally new expression.”

ArtCatto’s summer collective at the Conrad Algarve opens on 14 July. In addition to sculptures by Lucas Hamann, will be artworks by figurative painter Silvio Porzionato and landscapes by Erika Toliusis.