Ton Dias - Wooden wall art sculptures

HUMANITY

Again I use the felines in this wood carving work, to represent this complex dialogue human animal. They are a family that resembles the man in several features, although the man don´t like to see or perceive these similarities.

Two lions, with some traces of human physiognomy, behaving like a loving couple exchanging affection and care. However, where is the human image in this artwood, if the subject of the sculpture is the "human-animal"?

Humanity is not in shape. It is within the content and whole of the woodcarving. That humanity inside this woodcraft is the "true humanity" (complicity, tenderness, affection).

Why, then, do use a pair of lions, one of the most ferocious animals on the planet, to talk about humanity?  Because it can be easier to find the true humanity inside the most fierce animal, instead of find it in the human world. Within the existing human civilizations, the animality and brutality of the lion are much more visible.

It is not hard to perceive that exists a very tenuous threshold between animal ferocity and humanity. I believe it is important to consider that the ferocity and humanity are not belongs only to the wild, or only to the human.

Wood: vinhático-do-campo (brazilian wood)

Dimensions: 46cm x 35cm x 4cm

Another important element refers to the strength of the lion, which is, again, associated with elements related to frailty (a little bit of sweetness and smoothness). If we think about it, this supposed weakness can represent the real strength, because the true power don´t belongs just to be agressive and damaging, but it can also be in knowledge to perceive the better time to take it easy and be gentle when needed.

                                           

There is something in this wood carving that suggests the "lost humanity" still present in several animals, which, perhaps, needs to be rediscovered and reincorporated into the human being.