“Foothand” is a large-format sculpture at the interface between object art, monochrome painting and installation. The work explores the principles usually applied in dance and translates them into material. The gravity that comes into effect is formulated into a balanced, statically expressive moment by means of the mutual effects of forces. In the center hangs a massive bronze cast of a hand that merges directly into a foot. By choosing bronze as a material that symbolizes heaviness and durability, the physical presence of these extremities is emphasized, while their sculptural arrangement creates an illusion of lightness. The body parts, which normally have a clear function as anchors in space, are expanded and exaggerated in their form and meaning. The foot hand symbolizes the duality of physical experience and visual impressions by condensing jumping and grasping into their essential characteristics. From the perspective of subjective, physical experience, the focus during jumping and grasping is on the one hand on the hand that guides the movement. On the other hand, the focus is on the foot, from which the movement gains its main drive. From an observational perspective, the gestures of both body parts summarize the movement and its intention into a visual narration. Deformed into this condensed form, the foot hand opens up new associative spaces and dream worlds. Is it her last, desperate attempt to cling to the reality of things? Or does it grant us a fleeting glimpse into the subconscious?
Foothand, 2024
Sculptural Installation
Bronze, latex, steel, leather, wood
Timo Paris’ draws on his experience as a dancer in dealing with statics to construct illusionistic moments of overcoming gravity. The massive bronze cast, weighing over 20 kg, pulls the latex towards the floor, generating folds that spread out in a ring shape. The moment these folds hit the ground, their shape changes into the semi-circular steel arch. This in turn directs the main weight onto the floor and visually suggests a balancing act. The weight of the central figure pulls the upper ends of the steel arch together until the moment when the leather straps prevent it.
Each element – from the leather strap to the latex cloth – has been carefully selected to evoke a physical response and create an intuitive sensory experience. In the development of the individual elements, a synthesis of form and material was sought, which is inscribed in our collective, haptic everyday experience. The materiality and form balance the haptic expressiveness of the material with the symbolic content, which fans out equally into a spectrum of associations. The use of leather and latex creates a subtle reference to the human body, while wood, as a traditional handcrafted material, creates a connection to the natural world. The cast bronze appears solid and heavy and contrasts with the supple leather straps and smooth latex surfaces, which evoke associations with clothing, movement and protection. Wooden objects protrude from the wall, which can be read as a hybrid of table leg, handrail and bedpost and whose touch resonates in the appearance. The connecting piece to the steel frame is made of leather and combines in its form a trouser belt, carrying strap and saddle – objects that are in direct contact with the body in everyday life and whose function plays an essential role in statics.
When walking around the work, the perception changes – from the accentuation of the centered weight and the tugging force on the architecture via the side view to the pictorial overall appearance in the frontal view. Like the work “Cypher”, the inclusion of the architecture in the work generates a moment of physical awareness. The wooden elements seem to rise up out of the wall and thus create not only a visual but also a static reference to the architecture as a whole. The macro perspective of the building is channeled through the work and concentrated on the dimension of the human body via the foot hand. This creates the physical sensation of a kind of vertigo, generated by a spatial scaling across the work towards the architecture and potentially projected further into the landscape – a sculptural zoom, so to speak.