Tim Bengel, a young artist from Stuttgart, Germany, has returned to the childhood pastime of playing with sand for his latest art series. He uses only black and white sand on a sticky board to create spectacular paintings of people and places.
Bengel, 24, starts off by covering a blank canvas board with a special type of adhesive that takes a long time to dry. He then sprinkles black and gold sand over the drying glue in the shape of the design he has in mind, and sometimes even adds individual grains of sand using a very fine scalpel. This ‘drawing’ stage can take him weeks to complete.
When the design is completed, he spreads white sand all over the canvas. Then, he shakes off all the excess sand in one sweeping motion to reveal the completed artwork underneath. The dramatic effect of this final step is well worth the hours of effort that he puts into each piece.
Bengel’s work is being described as a whole new take on building sandcastles. “The last work step at my artworks have this ‘wow-effect’,” he explained. It generally takes him a month, or 80 hours, to complete each piece, but he did spend 300 hours on one particular creation – a sand painting of the Palace of Versailles.
Born in Ostfildern, Bengel is currently studying art and philosophy at the University of Tubingen. “My curiosity for art first presented itself when as a child I tried to imitate these works I saw at my first visit to art museum Staatsgalerie Stuttgart,” he said. “I won my first art competition at school, age of 18. A few years ago I asked myself ‘what do I have to do to be a successful artist?’ My answer was: ‘Find something unique!’”
So Bengel started experimenting with sand art, but the first few attempts at shaking off the excess sand were disastrous. But now, after years of practice, he’s happy to say that “nearly every picture becomes perfect.” The full collection of his extraordinary sand paintings can be viewed on his website.
In order to truly appreciate Tim’s sand art, you have to witness the creative process and the unveiling of the masterpiece beneath the grains of sand. It’s simply awe-inspiring.
via Business Insider
