Two Awkward Carved Nudes - ONLY LEFT NUDE AVAILABLE taxco and a baseball player whirligig

and a baseball player whirligig by well known South Dakota based contemporary folk artist Kent Gutzmer

but closer inspection reveals it is definitely bone

The bottom half of the box features similar patterning on its sides

where it has clearly been held many times

stakes and odds for playing roulette in Monte Carlo

Two Awkward Carved Nudes - ONLY LEFT NUDE AVAILABLE taxco and a baseball player whirligigRight nude SOLD; Left AVAILABLE One of my favorite genres of carvings has definitely become what I'd call awkward nudes clearly done with great care and sincerity, but not quite masterfully, with the faces especially betraying the idealized bodies and poses the carving was clearly hoping to achieve. For me, these embody a big part of what I love about folk art the embodiment of lots of aspiration, hard trying, and very often "failure". And so while