Vince Skelly (b. 1987) lives and works in Claremont, California, carving wooden sculptures and furniture from single blocks of west coast timber. His forms begin with mass, then narrow through the particular character of the block. A knot may pull the carving off-centre; the grain decides where the chainsaw can be blunt and where the hand tool must slow down.

Skelly studies the log before cutting, looking for its weight and possible route through the grain. The rough shape is taken out first, then worked back by hand where the form calls for slower judgement. Single-block carving leaves little room for reversal: once wood is removed, every later decision has to reckon with the absence. His references to dolmens and ancient figurines sit inside this commitment to mass. Brancusi brings another pressure, with simplified volume treated as something cut back until the remaining form feels inevitable.

For aarticles, Skelly presents a series of small-scale sculptures developed from chess set prototypes and studies for a large outdoor sculpture show planned for July 2026. At shelf or table scale, the pieces keep the ancestry of larger outdoor works: compact masses with carved openings, blunt silhouettes and the latent movement of chess. Something of the game remains in their bearing, a sense of rank held in the carved form.