John Long & Depth in Woodwork

This is the work of an artist from my home town. He works with pieces of old and weathered wood, with varying grains, textures and colors, to create these three-dimensional images. All of these intricately cut bits of wood are actually on the same plane but, very much like a painter, John creates the illusion of depth on a flat surface. He employs the depth cue of distortion and deformation (as dictated by the particular perspective) in the cutting of the wood. He uses the grains and textures of the wood as if they were the marks of a pen to indicate the orientation and depth of the different planes in the image. And, in certain pieces, he uses occlusion in the placement of the wood to indicate which parts of the image are farther away in our field of view. But I think the most powerful depth cue in his work is in the shading and color of the medium. In his palette of salvaged wood, he uses pieces that are naturally of varying luminance and color to express the simple planes and angles of New England architecture. This draws our attention to the nature of the wood itself and its history.
www.artistinwood.com