The hand’s self-reflection

Abstract

As a visible symbol and allegory of the divine hand representing man´s attempt to understand the cosmic dimensions of the universe, to the invisible presence behind an artist´s unique style, technique, or method, the artist's hand has ultimately come down to us as the perennial subject of art. I have attempted to reflect on this idea, paying special attention to the artist's hand in its relationship to subjectivity, inter-subjectivity, and self-reflective creation. My dissertation investigates the artist's hand(s) as the self-reflective subject of art, the artist's perennial search for the “inner hand”, the “and'' in the “hand”, and the “leap of the artist's hand”, by looking at the creative act as a symbolic re-enactment of the originary leap of the human hand into self-reflective consciousness. My historical research looks closely at the transition from the figurative representation of the human hand to the birth of the invisible hand of the artist. I begin with a brief discussion of the representation of the human hand in the history of western art, citing examples of Paleolithic and Neolithic cave paintings, where I first recognize the primary subject of artistic representation to coincide with the moment of man's originary leap into self-reflective consciousness. Throughout antiquity and leading right up to the Medieval period of European history, the symbolic significance of the figurative representation of the human hand served as a key to uncovering the meaning and intent of many forms of artworks concerned with preserving religious and mythical traditions. In most cases, throughout the Ancient and Medieval periods, the human hand acted as a symbolic and allegorical referent. Consequently, it pointed away from the actual artist to a transcendental truth or vision. The anonymous hand of the artist pointed to the intended “subject” of the painting or work of art. The artist, and hence the artist's hands, were mediums of a trans-subjective message. In many religious traditions the artists themselves remained anonymous. In my thesis I cite examples from ancient Egyptian art to Minimalism, addressing how the artistic process involves reflective inter-subjectivity, challenges to the temporal/spacial limits of image reflection, and reinterpretations of the idea of spontaneity and randomization. The symbolic portrayal of the artist's hand representing the subject of art would be transformed with the emergence of Impressionist and Expressionist painting. Then, with the development of Dadaism and Surrealism we find a significant return to the symbolic neo-Expressionist representation of the conscious subject of art as the voice of the artist's hand(s), the development of the representation and expression of the artist's hand(s) in the place of the priest’s hands, and the reinstatement of the originary leap of the artist's hand(s) into randomization. The practical component of my research shows how the story of my own hand's leap into self-reflective consciousness is the story of my hands' search for transcendental interiority, inspired by the love of the one for the many and the many for the one. My dissertation moreover reveals the artist's hands' self-reflective history to be based on their relationships with their own creations, with themselves, and with the foundations upon which they ask or frame questions, which is to say, with their approaches or preparations for artistic acts. I look at the artist's hands as if everything they touched became a mirrored image of themselves. The gloved hand, the clenched hand, the open hand, the hand under water, the hands of the sun, the symbolic hand, the actual hand, the invisible hand, the and in the hand, the random hand, the loving hand, the mad hand, the detached hand, the hand of God. Above all, what we come to see is that man's hand is the subject of man's art. Artist's hands bring the outside world inside and the inside world outside, turn objects into subjects, nothing into something. The artist's hands present and represent things, grasp, squeeze, draw, write and paint the world into existence. The artist’s hands choose, shape, frame, set-up, distort,. The artist's hands are the comprehensive listeners, the sketch artists of everyday life. Man is a legend of alterity to himself. Colors, forms, lines and divergences at every angle are all part of his subjective and inter-subjective character. Every viewpoint is a spectacle of infinite value. My reflections are meant to encourage the idea that an increasing awareness of the artist's hands regarding their own subjectivity will accelerate their effectiveness in communicating a true image of their purpose. My sculptures and photographs portray my hand's visions of themselves in the act of self-reflective awakening. Their forms are not thought out beforehand. My beforehand efforts focus on preparing a context in which to create something both spontaneous and self-reflective. While the leap of the artist's hand is ultimately made spontaneously, the artist's preparations for making such a leap are clearly plotted by the hands themselves. My photographs of broken windows in Lisbon and Porto engage chance encounter and naturally occurring formations. My photographs are unpremeditated visions of the hand of the other, the passage of time, the majesty of nature, and my hands' self-reflection. I challenge myself as an artist to express the unexpected event, show changes of form, the act of transformation, movement of patterns and ideas, to be the expression of a redemptive dialectic – wherein the inherent love of the one for the many and the many for the one manifests itself and inspires action. The dialectic I have in mind is propelled by love, culminates in union, and begins with chaos. An everlasting conjunction of chaos and order made possible on account of the ritual re-enactment of the leap of the artist's hands into self-reflective consciousness. My sculptures are self-portraits of my hands as subjects. They began with rolls of fence wire, and evolve out of my hand's inward vision. What I am creating are visual ideas about invisible hands. The final arrangement draws attention to the relationship between the one and the many. The nature of the wire allows for quick, strong, simple transformations. The process is done with the intention to pursue something inside. A vision evolved out of the inner hand. My hands break up the flatness of the wires, creating irregular angles and curves, channels, tunnels, hollows, slopes, pathways. My hands press and turn the wire, twisting and expanding it. Then, they let the shape of the wire become what it will. In my previous paintings, I had experimented with alternate landscapes using everyday objects as symbols, creating metaphors with birds, ladders and wheels. I depicted birds without wings, elevating themselves by ascending ladders, and spinning their wheels with their hands, their bodies mirroring each other and overlapping. Even then, my principle subject was the hand, my hand, my painting hand. I painted my hand in a thousand different ways. Then it disappeared. In its place was everything that my hand was not. I longed to see new possibilities, unrecognizable shapes, randomization. Things needed to be broken up. What I had achieved was the confidence to point to my hands' role in the formation of my identity as an artist. Now was the time to let my hands try to do something on their own. The result would be a fluidity of unrecognizable forms and the birth of between space vision