Hill
Gary Hill
HanD HearD, 1995-96 / 2001
Edition of 2 ex + 1 AP
l'artiste & Galerie In Situ - fabienne leclerc, Paris
Five wall-sized color video images are projected at or near the corners of a given space. All projections are of a fixed camera angle somewhere between a profile and over-the-shoulder view showing a person in a heightened state of reflexivity gazing at one of their hands. The attention can be felt throughout the room.
The hand is held up and out of its identity as a primary tool/extension of the body. At times it looks to be like an autonomous living totem - an autonomous living totem - an orbital other signaling with handmade language back onto a self in its hand. At other times it feels like another's hand held us for inspection.
As still as the images are they are hyper-alive. The heads and hands loom over the viewer like statues of some kind. Every once in a while a figure's head turns a few degrees as if to acknowledge the viewer. 'Nothing' is happening but something seems as if it's getting ready to happen. One wants to look at their own hand or at least imagine doing so. The title contains the letters an ear suggesting a space of listening and yet the work is actively silent.
Catalogue Gary Hill, Selected Works + Catalogue raisonné, edition Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2002