Lee Devonish

Smoking Man 2015 - lime wood carving with paper and graphite. Wooden carving of an abstracted male figure Smoking Man is a figure carved from an assembled stack of lime wood pieces, with thin slivers of blue paper between some of the wood blocks. The figure is incomplete and its form is pared down to simple geometric shapes, with the spaces between the wood blocks being of prime importance to the overall work. The centre of the figure is a void space within the man, which has been finished with graphite. Themes This sculpture is of an allegorical subject, which is a rare theme in my work. The process of laminating wood blocks and working in negative space grew intuitively without as much planning as previous works. The carving was deliberately left rough hewn, as a departure from my usual style. Incorporating voids into the piece's structure was a way to invite the viewer to complete the man's story. The central void doesn't go all the way through to the other side of the sculpture, which creates the question of whether the space is a container, or a home for a missing element. Size Approx. 45.5cm high, 19cm wide, 10cm deep without MDF base. Read more about this sculpture here.

Smoking Man – Lime wood carving.