American artist, Jonah Mitropoulos (b. 1982) creates works in wood that ironize beauty and celebrate non-human life. His woodcarving pokes fun at the destruction and narcissism of human production, its ageless attempt to capture and transform other creatures, and the need for satire to point all this out. His subjects appear familiar, ridiculous, or even vulgar, but are ultimately disrupted by the unsettling, uncanny, and transient gaze of animals overshadowed by human impact.

Materials and process similarly play a role in his project. His works are carved with chisels, knives, and gouges and are never sanded, allowing tools marks to contrast with today's CNC-made objects that have obliterated the fingerprint of the machine's drill. The wood he chooses is locally sourced and chosen with the express desire to remind the viewer that you don't need hard-to-find or rare wood to carve: a 2x12 from the lumberyard will do just fine!

At this time, he is developing a series of "manifestos" that play with the idea of representing animals through hand shadow-puppets, but he also continues to satirize the numberless examples of anthropomorphism in human narratives. He is currently based in Taos, New Mexico.