I’m extremely underwhelmed with the skill of the wood carving artist .... Picasso of wood carving ?
A prime example of Primitive Russian Gothic.................
Ancient artists had different goals that modern ones do. Almost certainly they did not even consider themselves artists, or have any concept of creating an object “for art’s sake” as we do. They were probably what we would considered magicians or sorcerers. The things they made were intended to be real entities and have a soul, like an idol. They weren’t necessarily meant to be realistic. So, the question is, does that object create an impression, does it have emotional content. I would say that it certainly does create a strong emotional impression, like a primitive mask, albeit in a weird way.