The Scar as Palimpsest: Deleuze, Reclaimed Wood, and the Logic of Becoming

 

In Gilles Deleuze’s The Logic of Sense, the scar is far more than the remnant of a healed wound. It is a productive surface — a site where the event leaves its mark and new meaning is generated. The scar does not erase the past; it incorporates it, transforming the body into a living record of what has happened.

This idea has become central to my sculptural practice.

I work almost exclusively with reclaimed wood — material that already carries its own biography of growth, violence, use, abandonment and recovery. Every crack, knot, nail hole and weathered surface is a scar. Rather than hiding these traces, I allow them to remain visible, even to become protagonists. Through carving, assembling and painting, I turn these fragments into human figures that speak of fragility, memory and reinvention.

The series Nazareno is perhaps the clearest example. Begun in 2018 as a hybrid between the traditional penitent and Marilyn Monroe’s iconic subway scene, the work was interrupted by a deep personal crisis. For years it remained unfinished in the studio — a body suspended in time. When I returned to it years later, I did not attempt to restore it to an imagined “original” state. Instead, I worked with its scars. The cracks, changes in tone and signs of neglect became integral to the final piece.

In this way, the sculpture becomes a true palimpsest: a body that carries multiple temporal layers simultaneously. The wood’s own history dialogues with my interventions, creating figures that are simultaneously broken and resilient, wounded and reborn.

Deleuze teaches us that sense is produced on the surface, not hidden beneath it. My sculptures attempt to make that surface visible — raw, honest, and profoundly human.