Robert Griessmair
I began my artistic career by working as a church painter and restorer of murals. While working in this profession for many years in South Tyrol, Italy, and Austria, I felt a growing need to find my own forms of expression. This led me to study painting, drawing, and graphic design in Florence.
I have now been working as an artist for 30 years. My engagement with Far Eastern spirituality and numerous trips to Asia are reflected in my works, as is my love of nature in my homeland of South Tyrol. My forms of expression include painting and sculpture.
Tree souls
Over the years, I have been working with trees in my own way. I carve faces into their trunks. The tree souls.
They whisper their stories to me softly. Stories of sun and rain. Of fertile and barren years. Of the freedom to dance in the wind. Of storms that uproot giant trees in their ferocity and of lightning that splits them in two like a matchstick.
But above all, they tell of silence. That is why their eyes are closed. They are listening trees. In silence, they linger in the moment and welcome life and death as two good friends. Who join hands in the everlasting cycle of the seasons.
My favorite tree is the birch. It has always held a strong attraction for us humans. Our ancestors believed that the souls of the dead lived in them, with whom the shamans communicated in trance. The inner layer of the bark, the cambium, is edible. In addition to birch, I also use other native deciduous and coniferous trees such as larch, pine, spruce, and willow.
Showroom & Studio
Located in Welsberg, it can be visited by appointment. There you will find tree souls, peeled (naked) trees, roots with gold leaf, birch pictures, and more on the theme of trees. Objects that appeal to you can be purchased directly in the showroom.
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Tree Souls on a Journey
A temporary installation of tree souls (faces carved into tree trunks) in popular tourist destinations in nature.
As guardians of silence, they act as a counterbalance to noisy mass tourism.
They invite you to pause for a moment... and enjoy the moment.
We are guests on earth...
and the next selfie can wait.