Charles Ferguson

Artist Statement

I use plywood to explore what happens when a familiar figure is dismantled and reconstructed. Beginning with a digital model of an existing statue, I plan a series of cuts that divide the body into sections, many of them almost unrecognizable on their own. Rebuilding the figure becomes a way to investigate how material and process can change our experience of a form we already know.

The cutting planes are central to the work. I choose the figure’s orientation within the plywood for the patterns it will reveal: where alternating veneers will follow a muscle, cross a face, or gather around a feature. These decisions bring the material’s internal structure to the surface, creating a second set of contours across the body.

Reconstruction happens one section at a time. I machine each slice, then refine it with a Dremel, working its transition into the previous section before gluing it in place. Without locating pins or registration guides, I align the pieces by eye and touch. The digital breakdown is carefully mapped, but recovering the figure requires continual physical judgment.

This practice grew from making plywood furniture. A contoured chair first drew my attention to the patterns exposed beneath the surface; reliefs and freestanding figures became ways to pursue that discovery further. I remain fascinated by the passage from a recognizable whole to unfamiliar fragments and back again. As the figure returns, the plywood gives it another visual rhythm; one determined by the relationship between the body, the material, and my decisions about how to take it apart.

Reconstruction happens one section at a time. After machining a slice, I refine it with a Dremel, smoothing its transition into the previous piece before gluing it in place. Without locating pins or registration guides, I align the sections by eye and touch. A carefully planned breakdown becomes a gradual, hands-on process of recovering the whole.

I am drawn to that passage from recognition to fragments and back again. The figure returns, carrying the patterns of its new material and the decisions made in taking it apart.