Poignant Wooden Sculpture Conveys Layers of Human Conflicts Contained in One Figure

Painted Wooden Sculpture by David de la Mano

Spain-based artist David de la Mano captures the strife of human conflict in his latest work of art. Titled Under the Skin, this large-scale wooden sculpture was installed at the European Parliament for a collective exhibition on human rights. It features a silhouette of a woman's head containing numerous scenes of conflict painted inside.

De la Mano uses his background in sculpture and public art to convey many narratives in a single piece. To do this, he utilizes a minimalist color palette of white, black, and shades of gray. While the exterior of the woman's head is colored in black, the stories that unfold within her head are painted in increasingly lighter gray hues, giving an impression of a long and layered history. “Under the Skin is a work that is part of a collective exhibition on Human Rights at the European Parliament, in Brussels,” de la Mano tells My Modern Met. “The skin speaks of the contradictions of the human condition, of communities, and of their own conflicts.”

From afar, it is hard to understand what is happening inside the human portrait. But the closer we get to the sculpture, the more we gather from the intricate design. “The great community is represented by a woman's head, whose face does not show the conflict she is experiencing,” de la Mano continues. “Layers of events, of confrontations that worsen or are resolved depending on how they are interpreted, from the outside in or from the inside out.”

Scroll down to see more images of this amazing installation, and follow the artist on Instagram to keep up to date with his latest projects.

Spain-based artist David de la Mano captures the strife of human conflicts in his latest piece.

Painted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la Mano

Titled Under the Skin, it depicts a human head filled with silhouettes of other figures.

Painted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la Mano

The sculpture was carved from wood and then painted in a grayscale color scheme.

Painted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoPainted Wooden Sculpture by David de la ManoDavid de la Mano: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by David de la Mano.

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Margherita Cole

Margherita Cole is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and illustrator based in Southern California. She holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Studio Art from Wofford College, and an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University in the UK. She wrote and illustrated an instructional art book about how to draw cartoons titled 'Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square' that was published by Walter Foster in 2022.
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