Talking hands

Talking hands

What makes us human is more than just brain power. Some say our opposable thumbs gave our hands the ability to manipulate objects and create tools. But my foray into hands as a subject for paintings began with hands as substitute for speech, for instance hands spelling out words in sign language, hands gesturing like the Italians do, or hands creating objects by the shadows they throw. The Eulogy series, created after the death of my father, interrupted this series. some of those paintings have similar usages of hands. See: http://www.scottponemone.com/portfolio/eulogy/

This series, which began in 2007, was inspired by Hands, a painting I did after visiting Palermo, Sicily, in April, 2001. I had just left a museum there without doing any sketching when it dawned on me to go back a draw hands because medieval and early Renaissance artists used hands to direct the viewer’s eye and label persons in the paintings be how they held their hands.