Marquetry artist Ian Smith: 360 night panorama made of wood

Desert Center Gas Station -- 360 Night Panorama by Joe Reifer

In January, an artist named Ian Smith from Manchester England contacted me about creating a wood version of my Desert Center 360 night panorama.

Ian Smith works in the ancient art of marquetry, which involves cutting pieces of wood veneer by hand to create an image. Ian described the project as:

I am hoping to do a more modern pastiche of the baroque style (defined by bold curving forms and dramatic effects with a touch of the bizarre). I have been checking out your amazing work and in particular I love the 360 degree picture of the old gas station.

I sent Ian a high resolution image to work from, and the piece is nearing completion. I was really blown away by Ian's interpretation of the image.

Desert Center Gas Station -- marquetry version by Ian Smith

After being marveled by Ian's work for the last few days, I decided to buy the marquetry gas station pano after Ian's big art show next month. I'm planning to hang the wood version on my wall. You can view more of Ian's work on The Marquetry Shack. And stay tuned -- Ian is already considering doing another wood version of one of my 360 night panoramas.