CR Blog
Dalton Ghetti's graphite micro-sculptures
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 17 August 2010, 11:32 Permalink Comments (26)
It's Nice That recently tweeted a series of sculptures by Brazilian artist Dalton Ghetti, made solely from the wood and lead of pencils...
Miniaturist sculpture can often feel like the preserve of tricksy tourist art (see Your Name on a Grain of Rice) but Ghetti's take on the medium – where the wood of the pencil acts as a tiny plinth for his graphite sculptures – is as beautiful as it is skillful.
As a trained carpenter, based in Connecticut in the US, Ghetti says that the process of carving his tiny sculptures can take many months. In addition to a steady hand, he uses just a razor blade, sewing needle, and sculpting knife to make the pieces.
He even has a 'cemetary' display of all the broken lead sculptures that didn't quite make it through to the final stage. And the finished items are only ever given away to friends – Ghetti apparently only makes postcards and prints of his work available to buy.
Ghetti's cemetary of broken lead sculptures
Kidrobot's KRonikle blog (and also telegraph.co.uk, who posted a gallery of Ghetti's work earlier this month) has a whole series of his pieces on show.
26 Comments
the internet is eating itself
you list 3 other sources where this stuff has appeared and i saw it elsewhere a while ago
surely most of your readers have already seen this?
CR used to be about seeing new stuff for the first time but now it looks like you just can't keep up
2010-08-17 13:22:43
@aardvark - can't say I've seen it before.
The guy's got a damn sight more patience than I have - I get annoyed just sharpening the buggers! ;)
2010-08-17 13:45:44
Cracking work. I wonder if this is even more impressive in real life. I'm not sure if my visual acuity would be up to it!
2010-08-17 13:57:21
creative review?
2010-08-17 14:12:50
Eyyyyyy come on now lads! Just because you've seen it doesnt mean it shouldnt be posted again. People may come on here an use it as their only place to really cannon out a bit of r'search.
Personally i thnk this is a real banger of a project and i've loved witnessing it again on creat' vie'. Real talent this lads, real talent.
2010-08-17 16:25:39
aardvark you need to calm down...does it really matter it's already out there....i haven't seen this before and i am glad i now have! its beautiful! thank you creative review!
2010-08-17 16:54:24
lol
2010-08-17 16:57:34
i didn't say i didn't like it
i just think that especially if it's on 'it's nice that' then most people would have seen it and i wonder what the point of publishing it again is – i guess it's good to get the CR seal of approval
and for the record - i do like it
2010-08-17 16:59:16
@aardvark
It wasn't actually on It's Nice That's website, they just tweeted a link to the work featured on the Kid Robot site (their tweet says "This little gem passed us by but has been rightfully bought to our attention" – which is pretty much what I thought, and so blogged it). Glad you like it too.
Mark Sinclair
2010-08-17 17:16:17
I wish I was his friend...
2010-08-17 17:22:01
This is stunning and the first time I've seen it!
Perhaps Aardvark spends a little too much time researching and not enough time designing if you've already seen it 3 times!
2010-08-17 17:46:13
Wow, very amazing, thank you for sharing your talent!
2010-08-17 21:15:05
Iv not seen it. pretty mental tho- steady hand is an understatement
A
2010-08-18 01:34:33
First time I seen it, and thank sweet mama chukka that this guy has got time to do something like this and make money and publicity out of it! He should become a watch maker!
B.
2010-08-18 08:53:52
I saw this about a week ago in the Metro... which is where it belongs
2010-08-18 10:11:00
Stunning sculptures and amazing that they are all made out of pencils. He has a lot of talent and patience to do this. I would love to see all of his work close up in a gallery some time. Thanks for sharing Creative Review.
2010-08-18 10:53:38
mechanical pencils all the way here :(
2010-08-18 17:08:05
Unbelievable! We posted it a few days ago.
Check it:
http://fessolsnaps.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/dalton-ghetti-i-la-microescultura/
2010-08-19 08:33:53
I've seen it a few times and still enjoyed it just as much as the first! excellent work!
2010-08-20 16:53:56
stunning!!!
2010-08-20 17:50:46
Miniature sculpture of the highest quality + Stunning concept!
2010-08-21 06:05:44
From the length of the pencils it looks like it took a few attempts to get right...
2010-08-23 09:26:15
Aardvark, you're a poop. But I'm glad you clarified your thoughts. I had not seen it before and am so very glad someone emailed it to me and lead me here. CR "play it again"
creativeone
2010-08-27 19:03:38
I know that your work is truly gifted and WONDERFUL. I would like to barter with you. I write acrostic poetry out of peoples names, places or things. How about we swap a cross pencil for a blessed decorated acrostic poem of your choice?
2010-09-05 07:17:14
the best thing I've seen this year... truly amazing
2011-01-28 12:25:20
He even has a 'cemetary' display of all the broken lead sculptures that didn't quite make it through to the final stage.
2011-04-19 09:19:32
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