‘Smooth Bench’, salvaged Mexican Ailite Wood and volcanic stone
SMOOTH BENCH
by Julio Martínez Barnetche, Mexico 2014
SIZE: L: 216 x D: 63.5 x H: 45.7 cm // L: 85” x D: 25” x H: 18“
MATERIAL: direct carving on Mexican Ailite wood and basalt (volcanic stone)
Sculptural bench, from a small furniture series by the artist called Shi Ho. A beautiful piece of salvaged Ailite wood (Mexican alder wood) shows the design of the time, with its naturally engraved pattern. Martinez is a prolific sculptor of precious and semi-precious stones, woods and metals, working between sculpture, furniture and objects. The piece is from a furniture series created in 2014. Shi Ho is a word from the Mazateco language, from the area of Oaxaca, meaning a 'union'. The bench gets into a union through 2 feet with a roughly carved piece of volcanic stone. The artist often takes his materials as he encounters them naturally and does not intervene too much, especially in the case of stones and wood. He never cuts a tree, he finds the wood in nature, in the garden of friends or at architectural salvage sites.
