THE HANDS HAVE IT: I've always been interested in old-school, classic cartoons ever since I was a kid. Hands were the hardest thing for me to learn how to draw, however. On the other hand, to sculpt, and even just how to observe them proved challenging. As I observed more and more I began to realize just how easily the tone of an entire picture can change with the addition of a pair of out-of-place cartoon gloves. In Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam we can see so much piety and at the same time so much apathy in the simple depiction of Adam leisurely reaching out to God. Now imagine Adam and God wearing a pair Mickey Mouse gloves. Suddenly the complex feeling of religious awe is replaced with a more kid-friendly feeling of mischievous humor. I think the same thing can be applied to modern art.
KAWS, Partners (2012)
LUCK O' THE DRAW: Take DMS' severed arm Dismalhand for example. If it were a highly detailed human hand covered in blood and gore we might get a vision of a horrible accident of some sort, but when it's portrayed as a Disney figure the gore is lessened, but the idea stays the same. It brings, at least to my mind, the feeling of rebellion against major corporations (Walt's Disneyland vs Banksy's Dismaland in this case) and although the image is technically violent and gory due to the bone and meat jutting out we don't really feel that this is a truly violent statement against anyone. We have almost become completely desensitized to the savagery we see on the news and in movies these days, but when we put cartoon figures in the same environment we can see it from a new perspective. We mostly imagine cartoons as living in a carefree, loving environment at all times.
Patrick Wong, Emblem of an Abstract Riot (2016)
THESE TWO ARE TIED: By using just the limbs we can associate whichever characters we want to the dismembered arms and hands. Maybe it's goofy throwing up those gang signs, or maybe it's Mickey Mouse rebelling against his own over-saturated and bloated empire in an attempt to reconnect to his humble, steamboat driving origins. Maybe we even see ourselves taken away from this, sometimes too realistic, world, letting our imaginations rebel against the machine. Or maybe we just like the cute little cartoon gloves doing funny stuff, like playing with a fingerboard or flipping someone off. Either way, I don't think the trend of severed cartoon hands is going anywhere anytime soon and I'm very thankful for that.