School of Art graduate students Josh Roach and Michael Blake worked collaboratively to conceptualize and create the installation Hands. Their project, eighteen pairs of hands, are cast using a mix of materials and methods and displayed on a series of accompanying mounts.
The individuals the artists invited to be part of the project came from a variety of relationships, in which one member would 'cup' an intimate area of their partner. The process highlighted the awkward dialogues between physical and emotional closeness, along with disconnects between private/public intimacy and the fluidity of roles in relationships—elements the artists ultimately became most interested in. The finished objects reflect these dialogues and disconnects but also accentuate the personality of each set of hands through their very gestural nature as well as through their accompanying materiality, which the participants initially took a role in choosing.
GLT interview with the artists
This exhibit is made possible with support from the Friends of the Arts.