Carsten Peters
- City
- Ponta do Sol
- Country
- Portugal
Carsten Peters is a German artist from Bremen, now living and working in Ponta do Sol, Madeira. Working with wood, stone and photography, he draws his inspiration from the meeting of water and land: the movement of the Atlantic, the island’s volcanic landscape, and the traces that weather and time leave on natural materials.
His longstanding affinity for wood and stone shapes a process guided by close observation. Grain, cracks, hollows and irregularities become starting points for each sculpture. Through carving, grinding and polishing, he develops flowing contours, openings and contrasting surfaces, allowing the material’s existing character to remain part of the finished work.
Photography is closely connected to this sculptural practice. In his images of water, Peters explores reflections, shifting light and fleeting patterns. He seeks to translate these visual experiences into wood and stone, giving lasting physical form to movements that disappear in an instant. A reflection may suggest a hollow, a ripple may become a carved rhythm, and the play of light on water may find an echo in a polished surface.
Rooted in Madeira’s water and land, his work invites viewers to look closely at the relationships between movement and stillness, surface and depth, and the natural forms around them.
Artworks
Part of the three-piece work Currency, this sculpture draws on the structure of a harbour quay and its encounter with water. A carved wooden form is held away from a basalt support by rust-coloured steel rods, recalling the relationship between a harbour wall, its fixtures and the space around them.
The repeated hollows and flowing grooves in the wood evoke ripples, currents and the shifting reflections that appear along a quay. These fleeting impressions are translated into a solid, tactile surface, while the gap between wood and stone gives the suspended form a sense of lightness.
The work brings together the built shoreline and the movement of water, connecting the weight of the materials with the changing rhythms observed at the harbour’s edge.
Cut explores the contrast between the solid weight of reddish basalt and a deep incision that opens the stone to light and shadow. The cut interrupts the rounded form, drawing attention into its interior.
Inspired by Madeira’s volcanic landscape and the meeting of water and land, the sculpture recalls a fissure or a narrow channel. It invites a closer look at the tension between the stone’s natural character and the deliberate intervention of carving.
Carved from tree heath wood, Seed of Life follows an elongated, flowing form. Openings, small hollows and finely worked textures draw the eye along its curves, while the grain remains an active part of the composition.
My process develops through a dialogue with the material: existing features suggest where to carve, open or refine the wood. The resulting sculpture evokes a seed pod, a vessel or an unfamiliar organic form. Its contours connect my longstanding fascination with wood to the rhythms and movements I observe in water.
Root of Life brings together a tree heath root and a tuff stone base. The wood rises in a sweeping curve, its twisted grain and weathered contours suggesting a form still unfolding. Branching lines across the stone extend the root motif into the base, visually connecting the two materials.
The sculpture develops from the character of the found root. Through shaping, smoothing and polishing, I bring out its movement while preserving the irregularities that tell its history. Wood and stone meet in a work inspired by Madeira’s land, growth and the traces of time.