Dimensions: 28 x 225 x 325 mm Weight:0.8 kg
Copyright: © Estate of Paul Neagu | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Paul Neagu created "Empty Hand." It's a relief in wood and glass, a fascinating object from his oeuvre. Editor: Well, my first thought is that it looks like a building shaped like a hand. Or maybe a hand that’s been hollowed out and turned into a strange apartment complex. Curator: The hand motif recurs throughout cultures as a symbol of power, control, and creativity, doesn’t it? But here, the "emptiness" disrupts that expectation. Editor: Absolutely! It's like this potential for action is somehow…architecturalized, made static. I feel a sense of melancholy looking at it, this trapped potential. Curator: Perhaps that tension is the point. The absent hand suggests a loss, but the layered structure hints at a complex history, of memory and construction. Editor: It's a really evocative piece. You know, it makes you wonder what stories are held in all of those empty windows. Curator: It is a quiet piece that sparks a lot of reflection. Editor: Definitely something to ponder.
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Empty Hand and Full Hand consist of framed blocks of wood which hold small boxes or blocks arranged in the shape of a hand. Like many of the works shown in this room, the cellular structure of the hands relates to Neagu’s interest in the human body as a microcosmic model for larger systems. The hand as a symbol appears in several of Neagu’s works, notably in a series of drawings called 36 Possibilities Realised Simultaneously. Gallery label, September 2004
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