Père Paillard 1902

This wood sculpture is by Paul Gauguin. It's called "Père Paillard," and it just towers there, looking like it was carved in one go. Imagine Gauguin, wrestling with this block of wood, hacking away, maybe thinking about ancient gods or primal forces. I like to think of it as a sort of totem, a raw, powerful presence staring back at us. The figure’s got this intense face, almost like a devilish smirk, and those hands clasped in front—are they praying, or plotting something? And the wood itself—you can almost feel the grain, the weight of it. It's as if Gauguin wanted to get back to something essential, something beyond the fancy art of his time. Maybe he was thinking about folk art and how it could speak directly to the soul. Artists are always looking, searching, and borrowing from the past to find new ways of expressing themselves. It makes me think about my own practice: how can I use art to tap into something real?