I’ve been painting or building things or else we’d be doing some huge scarecrows for the fruit field. I will carve those with chainsaws”
Sometimes, Del Toro’s character develops in dreams and daydreaming. “I ended up staring at the wall for about an hour and all these images and ideas came to my mind,” he said. He filled the sketchbook with these ideas, but not everyone could create it. “I want to start with more ambitious projects,” he said.
Del Toro was born in England and eventually moved to Scotland. For some time he lived in Edinburgh, where he participated in what he described as a “pagan theater group.” He added: “We spent a lot of time making weird masks and chasing each other around the woods and things, so I think it might be the impact on doing the work to some extent.”
He also spent some time in Fife, Scotland, where he worked on the farm. It’s only a few years since Del Toro began carving, but the creative pursuit has long been part of his life. He said when he couldn’t make things, he might carve mashed potatoes or doodles on the table. “There is always this creative urge to escape,” he said. “Even when he was farming. “I’ve been painting or building things or we’d be some huge scarecrows for the fruit field.” I will carve those with chainsaws. He said. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Del Toro also works full-time, so he tends to create in the evening or on weekends. He is self-taught and says he is still learning skills and his projects can go on slowly.
In one of his Instagram photos, Del Toro was seen poking his five-foot face with a fluffy, pink cheek. He spent a lot of time doing this. He pricked the wool a lot until it no longer looked like the colorful fabric clouds seen on the floor of the photo. Eventually, he said, it turned into a “tight weaving of chaos.”
He said it felt great to carve. “It’s really versatile and very tolerant,” he said. Del Toro himself dyed the wool and said the task was much easier than he expected. He laid the dyed wool layers and figured them out with fiber needles, connecting the wool blocks together, slamming the material in various directions. He likes to start with long fibers and then bring shorter fibers to create a smoother effect. Some people told him that the surfaces resemble stone or ceramic, he said.
The face isn’t for a specific show, and Del Toro says it will end up hanging on the wall in his home. “I have this vision for what I want to do and I’ve been excited to do it,” he said. “I’m just so excited to do it and get it done.”*
This article originally appeared in Hi-Fructose Issue 44, and the issue is sold out. Subscribe here to Hi-Fructose to get our latest issue while supporting our art reports.
