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Wooden Sculptures Express Vulnerability Through Holes

Australian-based artist Paul Kaptein explores the notion of “now” in his wooden sculptures. While beautifully crafted, each piece has something strange about it. Notches and rectangular holes are cut into the figures and show that there's emptiness to his subjects. His work is metaphor for the present and the uncertainty that goes with it.

By re-examining what “now” means, the artist writes that it, “facilitates a renegotiation of perceptual truths resulting in an expression of things not quite truth, yet not quite fiction.” The present is in-flux, and we can't predict what's ahead (although we can try). While this makes the future seem bleak, to the artist it offers endless possibilities.










Paul Kaptein website
via [Fubiz]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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