Wendell Castle Best Kept Secret

Best Kept Secret is a monumental artwork by American master Wendell Castle. The first in the U.S. to show that sculpture could hold utilitarian function, Castle spent a 60-year career embracing new technologies to stay at the forefront of contemporary art. Some of these he innovated himself, such as the technique of carving into stacked laminated wood, now known as lamination, of which Best Kept Secret is an example. The void-like holes throughout the seat’s back function in the same way as the roof of the Pantheon in Rome; Castle has removed unnecessary weight without affecting the structure’s integrity, therefore allowing him greater freedom to expand the artwork’s overall volume.