Chad Plunket’s exhibition at LHUCA in Lubbock, Texas, presents a compelling confluence of craftsmanship, spirituality, and heritage through monumental carved wooden pillars.
An audience walks through “Come Before Last”
The son of an evangelical preacher, Plunket balances his roles as father, artist, and teacher while directing the non-profit Charles Adams Studio Projects (CASP) in Lubbock. Titled Come Before Last, the exhibition’s evocative name is drawn from three random words in a prayer Plunket often recites — words that have become both a mantra and a thesis statement for his work:
“To those yet to come, we wait in joyful anticipation of their birth. To those who have gone before us, we say their names and tell their stories so they are not forgotten. And for those of us here today, let us be present with each other, for these days do not last.”
Works in “Come Before Last” at LHUCA
His wooden sculptures occupy the main gallery at LHUCA, a space now painted in a subdued eggshell tone, replacing its once-signature bright red feature wall. This shift in the environment enhances the quiet, contemplative atmosphere of the show. The fluorescent lighting casts a cool glow over the space, highlighting the serene, structured forms of the carved pillars — evoking the deliberate simplicity of Donald Judd’s aluminum pieces in Marfa.
Installation view of “Come Before Last”
Each pillar stands as a prayer in its own verticality — a totem that resonates with the echoes of time. Linear, yet shaped by removal rather than addition.
Plunket’s process is both a ritual and a feat of craftsmanship. Working within the modest yet deeply personal confines of his driveway and garage in Lubbock, he transforms raw materials into towering sculptures, including an imposing 15-foot-tall lightning strike. His materials range from splintered, cracked, roughly hewn wood to smooth walnut planks salvaged from his grandfather’s shop. Carving, sanding, burnishing, and burning, he approaches his craft with meticulous devotion, building not only the sculptures but also the tables displaying smaller whittled studies that frame the exhibition.
Each piece is a meditation in wood, where every cut and curve echoes the rhythm of a prayer. The smaller studies offer a glimpse into his process — preliminary explorations hinting at larger works. Some surfaces are impossibly smooth, inviting touch (a designated “touch table” is provided at the entrance), while others are sharply defined, their edges knife-like in clarity. The incisions feel deliberate, their presence like thumbing a string of rosary beads or tracing ancient symbols—marking time, memory, and devotion.
The touch table at “Come Before Last”
Navigating the towering sculptures, especially in the quiet lull of a Sunday afternoon, reveals an inherent rhythm—a whispered language guiding the viewer through a space imbued with latent energy. The interplay of aspen, pine, cedar, and walnut reflects Plunket’s marriage of technical precision with ritual introspection. Every groove and notch speaks to patience and reverence, a slow and deliberate process akin to meditation.
Installation view of “Come Before Last”
Imperfections — cracks, knots, and rough patches — become testaments to nature’s unpredictability, reinforcing a raw honesty within the work. Like a decaying tree stump, they remind us that time is as much about erosion as it is about construction.
Beyond the exhibition’s themes of temporality, the monumental scale of Plunket’s work underscores an exploration of continuity — each pillar a solitary yet interconnected figure in dialogue with its wooden companions. A reminder that not just heritage but also place plays a role in our stories.
Installation view of “Come Before Last”
Plunket has lived across the globe, in England and New Zealand, but Lubbock is the place that appears in this work. Lubbock’s harsh, dry conditions inform these sculptures’ slow, repetitive pace, a sandblast against what eventually forms a slotted canyon or interesting rockface.
The carvings recall an ancient means of record-keeping, evoking the intricate systems of Incan quipus — knots used to tell stories and mark time. His work suggests an alternative timeline, a different way of inscribing memory and meaning into physical form. These carved symbols, like quipus, preserve something beyond words — messages passed between generations, histories recorded in texture rather than text.
Works in “Come Before Last” at LHUCA
Some of Plunket’s carvings evoke desert landscapes: the curving shell of a nopal, the undulations of a rattlesnake, and the jagged trace of a lightning strike. These organic references contrast yet harmonize with the stark simplicity of his forms, infusing them with a wild energy that underscores their connection to the natural world through rhythmic, sometimes powerful events.
Come Before Last bridges art, spirituality, history, and daily practice. It is not about spectacle but rather the beauty of simplicity and the power of deliberate craftsmanship. In each carved line, in each silent rhythm of vertical form, Plunket extends an invitation — to slow down, engage deeply, and recognize that in every act of creation, there is a thread connecting us to something beyond ourselves.
Come Before Last is on view at LHUCA through March 29.
