On Wood Series

Developed in 2024 by visual artist Bezalel, the ‘On Wood’ series is an ongoing collection of sunken relief sculptures created on plywood. This work explores the interconnection between the materiality of wood and the human condition.

The exploration is multi-layered. On one level, it addresses the sociopolitical issues related to our relationship with this resource. An average of 15 billion trees are cut down annually(1), highlighting how we are a self-sabotaging, self-destructive species—we kill what we need because we want what we kill.

Bezalel interprets the materiality of wood as having spiritual significance. From a biblical standpoint, wood can be understood to represent man or man’s condition. Wood is considered ‘dead’ when separated from the vine, similar to man’s consequential mortality when separated from God in the Garden of Eden. From God’s perspective, there is no good in human nature, for ‘in the flesh dwells no good thing’ (2) (Romans 7:18) and ‘the wages of sin is death’ (3) (Romans 6:23). This is the nucleus of the work: human nature is depraved, and debauchery is merely an expression of this condition that lies within every man. These hammered men can be seen as a dissection, an anatomisation of the first Adam.

1 Hannah Ritchie (2021) - “Deforestation and Forest Loss” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/deforestation' [Online Resource]

2 Romans 7:18 (King James Bible)

3 Rom. 6:23