Keep on Turning: Mark Giglio

Somehow these hand-painted, turned-wood sculptures by Mark Giglio manage to look both as if they are from some undiscovered primitive society and from a future ruled jointly by the Scandinavians and the Japanese. Jaunty but a little bit mysterious. You have to wonder: are they watching over us, or just watching us?

Giglio runs Pen Pencil Stencil, his studio and workspace, in Oakland, Calif. While he trained as a printmaker, he now works in graphic design, with a sideline in the physical world. "I've been designing things for so long on paper and in the computer that I really wanted to start to make objects," he says. "Then I've also been designing patterns and wanting to apply them to things so the wood figures turned out to be perfect for both interests." His plans for the future are all about textiles: "One of my next things is to make some quilts," he says. "I've been super into the geometric patterns people make with them. They really are awesome pieces of art. I've personally deemed this year as a year of fabric for me." penpencilstencil.com/pencil.html