Incredibly Lifelike Shapes Hand Carves From Wood By Peter Demetz

With his stunning hand-carved figurines, Italian artist Peter Demetz brings ordinary wood to life. Men, women, and children stand still against a basic, sometimes colored background in the sculptures ranging from around 20 inches to over 50 inches tall. Demetz's meticulous attention to detail is admirable. He can replicate stray strands of hair from microscopic wrinkles in garments and describe human anatomy so beautifully that you'd swear these figures are genuine.

Demetz's sculptures are intellectually engaging in addition to being stunningly detailed in their execution. As they look at the ground, the characters' backs are frequently turned away from us. We've caught them in reflective in-between times here such as immediately before you start speaking or as you're ready to enter a room. As a result, Demetz's art has a melancholy quality to it. They aren't particularly depressed but their body language conjures feelings of desire, loss, or a brief moment in time.