Zo-Yi Siew
Turramurra High School
HUMAN TOUCH
Drawing
Ballpoint pen on paper
Our hands connect us to the world around us. We remain curious about the world, we connect with others. We build, create and leave our mark on the world. But our touch also grants us an ability to hurt and destroy: our ability to build and create comes at a cost to the Earth and its inhabitants. Through the expressive posing of hands and detailed drawing in ballpoint pen, I intend to show the permanence of our lives and the impact we have, not only on the physical Earth but also on others.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Alphonso Dunn, CJ Hendry.
Marker's Commentary
The twenty-one drawings on found paper that constitute Human Touch pair the non-traditional drawing medium of ball point pen with traditional studies of the human hand. The series explores the expressive nature of touch through small scale delicate drawings that echo anatomical illustrations over the repurposed paper stock. The confident use of compositional devices directs the eye and quietly narrates a storyline of gripping, grasping, interlocking restlessness. The careful, thoughtful but at times bold interactions with pre-existing elements of the paper support the delicate display of hands layered with tone to describe form, presented throughout the three rows of imagery. The nuance of different hands and skin qualities described through texture are dexterously rendered. A sense of frustration is revealed through the rendering of paper once crushed but now smoothed out, forever to contain the energy of the fist that gripped it. The highly sophisticated drawings speak for the artist, and to the audience, as they describe the intimacy and connectedness of human touch.