JULIEN BONET - Woodcutter

Technique: Promptography on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper
Size: 50 x 40 cm
Edition: 3 + 1 AP
Year: 2023

Signed, dated and edition numbered by the artist on a separate label.

woodcutter

A figure made of twigs, wrapped and entangled, stands motionless in the forest. Dressed in red like a warning sign, it carries an axe—both a tool and a threat. Its mask of wooden branches appears archaic, as if it had sprung from an ancient festival.

In the artist's words: "He can regularly be seen at forest festivals as a woodcutter. He selects the tree species and determines how much wood is felled. He also scares children who come too close."

Förster takes us to a liminal space between nature and culture. Here, the forest is not a romantic retreat, but a space of negotiation: What may be taken, what must be preserved? The figure embodies an ambivalent authority—both guardian and threat, mediator between humans and the forest.

In the context of the series "Masked Foresters, " Bonet transforms the forester into a contemporary archetype: He speaks of our struggle for resources, for ecological balance, and for power over nature. The childlike fear that this masked guardian once evoked now reflects our collective fear of the loss of forests—and thus of ourselves.

Part of the ongoing series Masquerades – contemporary myths between fear, ritual and collective memory.