German artist Wolfgang Stiller‘s ‘Matchstick Men’ project combines long pieces of wood with head molds to look like used matches. The molds attached to the sticks were burned to make them look black and charred.

The collection of matchsticks are on display at the Python Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland and form part of an exhibition called ‘Burnout’, which runs until April 20th. The Matchstick Men are arranged in large matchboxes or scattered untidily around the exhibition space as if someone has opened a box and they’ve all come tumbling out.

Designboom notes that the matches reference “burned out” people and the materials (head molds and bamboo wood) were left over from a movie production in China, which he picked up while living in Beijing. Click through to see some images of the Matchstick Men:

Wolfgang Stiller