Title:
Hand

Details:
8.5'x5'x3.5'

Currently in the collection of the artist in Brooklyn.

This represents the climax of a decade of working with found-objects. At the time I made this piece, I realized I was after one reaction alone. I wanted people to see it and say: "It's a Hand". I wanted to push the exact same button in the brain of all viewers, and it worked. People stop dead in front of it and have discussions. The best thing about studying your own hand is that it's always there, a perfect model who will adjust instantaneously to meet your needs.

When I finished this piece, it was September of 2001. Its first show was scheduled for the 19th, and with the planet-changing events of the 11th, I listed the title as "Talk to it, Bin Laden". All at once a era of being an artist had begun. No longer was it alright to simply make nice art to look at. Gone was the time of art without impact. I realized that any future work I made would need to push people towards realizing that the power of creativity is larger than that of fear and evil. It suddenly became evident that the duty of artists was once again to be political and revolutionary, in subtle and blatant ways, if the war to retain the use our minds was to be won.

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