Why?

Artists are asked to explain why they paint or draw what they do. My artist statement for example, describes pretty well, my thoughts about my current body of work. But it does not really go into why I paint hands. So here goes. I will attempt to explain.

We use our hands to interact and communicate with the world around us, be it to create, or destroy. In that way, our hands are a direct link between our mind and our environment. In addition, hands imbue emotion, and depending on the pose, they can bring meaning to the work. Fingers are not unlike keys on a piano. As they articulate and move in space, light and colors bounce from the surface of each finger at a different rate, creating a rhythmic and dynamic pattern. In short, painting hands brings meaning, movement, pattern and “soul” into my portraits.

Painting Hands Project

As of May 2020, I am in the process of designing a new piece I am calling the Painting Hands Project. I intend to create a wall of paintings of hands. Similar to my wall of mouths back in 2002. Each painting will be an exploration of movement, color, meaning and medium. The project is meant to encourage creativity and experimentation by allowing me to try new colors, compositions and mediums. It’s important that I foster, within me, the artist’s mindset for play and exploration.

In the video below, I discuss why I paint hands, and explain my thoughts on how I continue to paint and work through the corona-19 stay home order. I conclude with the informal introduction to the Painting Hands Project, which arose from the difficulty in finding quality time to paint, and the mental bandwidth to really delve into a difficult work of art.

I finished “Dreamtank” just in time for an exhibition titled Mind | Body | Soul at Joan Hisaoka Gallery here in Washington DC. I wanted to share the piece with you and speak about the last few touch ups I made to the work. It was a two year journey to finish and I am happy to be announcing that it will be on view on October 1st – December 21st 2019 at Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery: https://www.joanhisaokagallery.org/exhibitions#/mind-body-soul-healing-the-outside-from-within

Opening Reeption: Friday, October 4th from 7pm – 9pm
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, October 19th from lpm – 3pm

Programming:The Healing Arts Series
A Movement Performance by Donne Lewis
Friday, November 15th, 2019 at 7:30 PM

Closing date: Saturday, December 21st