Lukas Beben Wood Art

My name is Lukas Beben and I come from a little town called Nowa Sol, in the west of Poland. 

I currently create and work in the UK, Germany and Poland. My father, Lech Beben, is a sculptor, too.

Even as a small boy, I was interested in drawing and painting, particularly in oil painting, depicting battle scenes. At the age of six, I asked my parents for a huge sheet of paper (2 meters by 2 meters). They didn’t know what I was going to do with it.

I spread the paper on the floor, in the hall of our small apartment, sharpened some pencils and started to draw. My father often repeats this story. He says that I started with a small hand somewhere in the middle of the paper. After a few days, the picture depicted a complete battle scene, in which the Polish charged at the Turkish army. To this day, in the attic of my parents' house, there is a rolled piece of grey paper, with hundreds of knights drawn and a small hand holding a sword somewhere in the middle. Only, which one was the first one? I worked hard all my childhood, developing my talent and skills, leaving thousands of drawings awkwardly stuck in the cupboards and drawers in my room. When I was about 13 years old, my dad understood that this is not just a temporary fascination. He took me to a very reputable city artist, Mrs Janina Goral. She was supposed to judge if I had talent, or maybe I was only good in the eyes of loving parents. To this day, I remember the amazing atmosphere in her studio, located on the fourth floor of a beautiful tenement house; the smell of oil paint, turpentine and linseed oil, the dust, lightly floating in the air, dancing in the rays of a hot summer sun, sneaking in through a huge, beautifully-ornamented old window. I remember how she set the jug, apple and crystal glass on a small table in the middle of the room. She gave me a pencil and a piece of paper and asked, 'Begin'. I remember myself thinking… just 'start'? and that's it? Well, I obediently started to work, as always with no pattern, no plan and no school. I guess that's how I created to this day ... After about an hour she came over, put glasses on her nose and from behind my back she said: ‘enough’. I was devastated. I just started shading. She approached my dad and said that I didn't need to come anymore and that I wasn’t good only in the eyes of my parents. She asked him to look after me because I had a talent.

Fortunately, as a teenager, I have not abandoned my interests and art has always accompanied me in my life. I did graffiti, drew comics, painted pictures, and did graphics. I just didn’t want to do one thing.

I didn’t want to sculpt in wood, like my father.

I graduated from university as an engineer and landscape designer. I wanted to utilise my talent into something useful such as designing and changing the landscape. Since I love nature and so

I  love gardens. Unfortunately, this career to that date didn’t give me satisfaction. First, I designed gardens, the interiors, then I took up architectural design and I had my part in designing the bus station in Zary, Poland, and finally, I worked as a furniture designer. Until I got to the point in my life when I didn’t know what to do next. I was looking for something for myself. I remember talking about it with my father in his workshop. He asked if I didn’t want to try the sculpture. Me, really? The one who so refused to do so?

I tried ...

Today working with wood is my passion...