The Hand
Lee Shu Hui
Charcoal sketch
2009

About the Artwork
(taken from my Feldman's analysis of it in 2010)
This artwork depicts a statue of a hand, clenching on to a cylindrical object, sitting on a plinth. The light source is coming from the top left hand corner of the artwork. The shadows are elongated. The statue of the hand is realistic.

The shadows have been made especially dark to contrast with the lit parts of the hand and the plinth. The pencil strokes are a mixture of rough and smooth, as the strokes for the background, which was done using charcoal, are somewhat rough, but the shadows, done using a mix of charcoal and pencils, are smooth. The rough background creates a rough, misty feel over the subject matter. Composition is balanced, as the subject matter is situated toward the centre of the picture.

Through this artwork, the artist might be trying to show that the things which we are attached to and cling on to are made beautiful in our own eyes, from our own perspectives, as shown from the light falling upon the cylindrical object, which could signify the things we are attached to. The artist might also be trying to say that we should truly treasure what we already have, as it is of much worth to us, as shown from the clenching of the hand over the cylindrical object, which could show the clinging on of the things which we already have. This artwork is related to the exhibition theme of "Light", as the artist portrays the hand literally bathed in light. This artwork also has a symbolic meaning, that we should always treasure what we have, and also showing our unwillingness to let go of the want for materialistic things, which in our eyes may be beautiful and hard to let go of.

How it was Done
 I ran over the paper with charcoal as a background. It was pretty hard to ensure a even layer was applied, even as I rubbed the charcoal longitudinally across the paper, because sharp edges of charcoal tended to get caught on the paper and would show as abnormally dark lines.

After that, the real work could begin. This piece was done during AEP lesson in 2009 when we were in Secondary 1. So I was sitting at the table where this sculpture of a hand was placed, with a light source shining onto it. I had with me a range of pencils from HB to very dark Bs (about 7 different tonal ranges), but as I recall I only used 2 or 3. I used the darkest ones for the outlining of the object, and an eraser to put in highlights on the object.

Why I Did It

It was for an in-class assignment in Sec 1, meant to train our ability to differentiate light and dark and to hone our artistic powers of observation I guess. Well because it was a class assignment I just did it. I was quite happy doing the pencil sketching because I'm rather familiar with that. Actually I'm quite regretful I didn't sit at the table with the Grecian-like sculpture of a man's face. I would have loved to sketch that kind of thing. I still do.