Paolo Domenichini’s sculptures take existing contours within wood, generally oak, and extend them into the likeness of an embodied figure. Using oak as his primary medium, the Italian-born artist allows the natural fissures and grains inside wood to reveal themselves, which in turn lends his mythic figures a natural texture.
Domenichini’s artistry and the human forms he gives shape are organic. Wood not only provides a formal structure, but bleeds into the content shaped. The body becomes overgrown with sinews and tendons as organic materials branch out through the representation of a figure.
While nodding towards classical themes and techniques, Domenichini’s works are absolutely modern. The myth of Daphne turning into a laurel tree haunts the bulk of his sculptures; yet this is precisely what gives them their uncanny quality. In fact, much of Domenichini’s output invokes classical themes, recaste to suite the demands of the contemporary mind.
