The artist who carves the shape of light

Joe Lima's massive woodblocks—some over six feet tall—sculpt shadow and illumination into surreal architectural spaces that blur printmaking and sculpture.

The Main

October 2, 2025- Read time: 7 min

Joe Lima creates massive six-foot woodblocks that blur sculpture and printmaking, spending months carving surreal architectural spaces that capture "the shape of light" through thousands of precise cuts, transforming an intimate craft tradition into monumental contemporary art. | Photography by Phil Tabah / @phlop

Joe Lima remembers the exact moment his artistic practice clicked into place: He was working on a drawing exercise, sketching the linear quality of a dome, when he spotted a small woodblock print of a balloon in an art book.

"That's when it hit me," he says, standing in his Saint Henri studio surrounded by massive carved wooden blocks the size of grand paintings. "I said to myself, it's so interesting how clear this is. How precise this is."

That was the beginning of something entirely new in contemporary art—large-scale woodblock carvings that blur the line between sculpture and printmaking, between the familiar and the unsettling. Lima's pieces, some standing over six feet tall, transform everyday spaces into something altogether more mysterious.

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