WE ARE WHAT WE CUT DOWN II by Abraham Adewole
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Reclaimed wood on board.
Dimensions: 16 x 18 in
Year: 2026
Price: $1000.00 USD
Status: available
WE ARE WHAT WE CUT DOWN explain the relationship between trees, human life, and our environment through reclaimed wood. Discarded wood and wood from a chair that had been part of a home for 40 years are arranged and painted to form a portrait. The work transforms materials that have already served a purpose into a new image, drawing attention to what happens when trees are cut down without consideration for regeneration. The portrait reflects the idea that our relationship with trees is deeply connected to our own survival. Trees help regulate our environment, store carbon, provide shelter, support biodiversity, and sustain the systems we depend on to live. Through reclaimed wood, the artist asks us to look again at what we have cut down and consider what we choose to regenerate.
Why collect this work?
A face is assembled from irregular coloured units, making human identity appear materially bound to the fragmented timber surrounding and constituting it.
- Adewole states that his practice uses discarded wood to address regeneration and human dependence on trees. Here, that environmental concern is concentrated in a portrait rather than illustrated as landscape.
- In the photograph, a blue face emerges from a mustard-yellow field, while a dense red mass presses into its left side. Uneven blocks interrupt the features, balancing recognition against visual disassembly.
- The catalogue identifies reclaimed wood on board, including material from a chair used in a home for 40 years. Differently sized pieces enable the portrait to operate simultaneously as image, relief, and accumulation.
- This work gives environmental responsibility a bodily form: wood is not simply its subject but the substance from which the person is constructed. That convergence supports interpretation across portraiture, reuse, and ecological ethics.
About the Artist
Abraham Adewole
Abraham Adewole is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in OGBOMOSO, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
I am a contemporary visual artist working primarily with discarded old furniture and reclaimed wood.
