Let Me Give You a Hand is a series of ongoing public interventions for which I attach a human hand sculpture to an urban element. Each hand is added directly on the urban object by using an aspect of its original shape.
Locations are chosen: 1. For aesthetic appearance as I want to create connections between the architectural context and the classical aesthetic of a hand sculpture. 2. For the semiotic content that relates to the symbolism of the hand gesture.
Our cities are growing and their evolution naturally discards old forms. Cobblestone roads are being covered with asphalt, Public Payphones are replaced with WiFi stations, Fire Alarms are disconnected, etc. At any given time, one can wonder the streets of a city and notice that some of these past urban phenomenon are still visible, standing in quiet decay embodying the passing of time like the different strata of an eroding mountain.
First I made a sculpture representing an open hand screwed directly into a fire hydrant’s hose connection outlet in front of New York’s courthouse in downtown Manhattan.
The second sculpture combines an original payphone handle with a hand doing a phone call gesture. It is installed inside an old phone booth in front of a multiplex movie theater.