Unbelievable Sand Art: by Tim Bengel

A young man of just 25, Tim Bengel, has innovated his own very unique style of sand painting. He creates unbelievable designs just using a canvas, adhesive and three different colours of sand! He starts of by smearing a special, slow drying adhesive on his canvas. Using a scalpel and his bare hands, very patiently and diligently, he begins to pour black and gold sand, as required, to form the framework of his pre-planned subject. He fills the void with white sand and lifts the piece to allow all the excess sand to fall off. It is only after this final step, that one can comprehend and appreciate the complete artwork. Up until that point, it only appears as if he is mindlessly pouring sand over his canvas. Once the canvas is lifted, unveiling his finished work, it leaves you speechless.

Tim’s art so far is a testimony to the commendable efforts he puts into his work and the unbelievable perfection he achieves using just his hands. His single piece of art could take weeks to get done but he never loses his focus or patience. He keeps going, grain by grain, line by line, finishing the ordained task. His largest painting so far of the Palace of Versailles took him 300 hours! The amount of detailing he does and the kind of depth he adds into his work by showing the play of shades and shadows, makes one value the artist all the more. Using his unique technique, he has thus far managed to meticulously create flawless portraits of people, structures, animals and objects.

Tim Bengel was born on December 31st 1991 in Ostfildern, near, Stuttgart, Germany. He says since childhood art fascinated him and his sole interest was in becoming an artist. ‘My curiosity for art first presented itself when as I child tried to imitate the works I saw at my first visit to art museum Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.’ True to his passion for art, he pursued what he believed he was meant to do. 'I won my first art competition at school, at age 18.' Currently, he is studying art and philosophy, at the university of Tübingen. But he did not receive any formal training for sand art. He just leant the technique hands-on. That would suggest a lot of trial and error and mishaps at the beginning. With years of practice, he now manages to get a nearly perfect picture each time.

For Tim Bengel, art is all about asking questions like: What is art? What does make art successful? And who decides what art is? In addition to making intricate art using sand he is also passionate about issues of concept art, serenity, double moral standards, money and decadence. He says, long ago he asked himself what could he do to be a successful artist and the answer he found was “Find something unique!” And indeed he did! His talent is exceptional, which is further nurtured by the hard work and patience he explicitly puts into transforming the idea in his head to an art piece that everyone can enjoy. Kudos to the captivating art and immensely gifted artist - Tim Bengel!