Giant Hands on Broadway. Two site-specific installation on Broadway in Harlem and Broadway and Bleecker, each created over the course of one day.
The city I love is full of empty storefronts and permanent scaffolding, I’m calling this the Manhattan Scaffolding and Storefront Improvement project.
Giant Hands site-specific installations consist of giant hands made out of lined bond paper and primed cotton canvas painted with acrylic paint. In the past year I've created numerous site-specific installations using Giant Hands. I design the installation to have very little turnaround time and also the paper and canvas hands are designed so they could be deployed in the morning and collected in the evening, creating a day-long site-specific piece if necessary. The hands could remain within the space if desired for 2-6 weeks. The installation consists of hands hanging from the ceiling, being attached to walls in a non-destructive manner or simply being draped over object or walls, to create what I call a gestural mound.
Giant Hands Statement
This series of installations arose from the realization that during simple and mundane daily activity, like holding onto the rails in the subway, the hands draw extraordinary three-dimensional shapes. As they move through space they create flowing, complex structures of hand trails - this body of work explores these ephemeral constructs.
I first create a small hand gesture sketch which I refine into a line drawing. I enlarge the line drawing and then transfer it to either paper or canvas. I then paint the enlarged hands using non-toxic acrylic paint. I then wire the paper or canvas hands using wooden dowels and fishing line. The hands are made to be very easily deployed as initially I designed the system to hang the installation in the morning and fold in the evening. The spaces I targeted in previous projects were scaffoldings in front of unoccupied store fronts in New York City, as well as natural and artificial formations in Central Park.
When hung loosely, the hands travel in a series of gestures, follow a think line and coalesce into three-dimensional structures. My own hands serve as the models and main building element of my work because they are always present and available, constantly traversing and dominating my personal space.
Giant Hands in West Harlem. Site-specific installation on Broadway in West Harlem.