Fantastical Wooden Sculptures

In his personal sculpture garden, Australian artist Bruno Torfs crafts wooden figures that live in the forest. Embracing fantasy, his life-sized works feature delightfully unusual characters. We see things like a bearded wizard carrying an armful of tiny creatures and a young princess riding a unicorn. Torfs incorporates the natural landscape into his art, using tree branches and leaves as a part of his subjects’ hair or body. After carving, they remain unpainted and blend in with their surroundings.

We might describe someone as wooden when they lack emotion, but Torfs proves that wood can convey an incredible range of feelings. He communicates love, joy, and sadness through tiny details like the angle of a shoulder or subtle shape of an eye. These figures mirror difficult emotions we face, and his work is a symbol of compassion and a source of comfort to those who use nature walks for reflection.

The garden was rebuilt after Brunos home and the garden were destroyed by a bushfire in 2009