I don't always get art. I won't discredit the artistic license of a guy with an apple for a face, but I'm not going to lie and say I understand the significance of said apple. But, I think I've been to enough art galleries and heard enough pretentious reviews to give a convincing appreciation. From what I can tell, they consist of words no one uses anymore and huge exaggerations. With that in mind, when I went through the Palisades gallery I saw some hand sculptures that were certainly cool. On closer inspection, however, they were not only cool, but certifiably genius. The subject matter, quality of sculpt, and poses reassured me that my species, the human, in case you weren't sure, is indeed the apex predator.
The sculptures were all hands. This in itself is mind blowing. Ages ago the brain became sentient, and gave a name unto itself. The sculpting of a hand shows the natural progression of this, the most valuable thing next to the mind is the body, of course. That's why we have gyms, the olympics, and those toddler pagaents that feel borderline illegal. And these sculptures perfectly convey that, just from the idea that a hand created a hand. Other animals can reproduce, but only we, humans, can create.
Also important was the coruscating quality of the sculpt. The sculptors were assiduous in sculpting every detail of man's hand. I think it's obvious that this is to highlight mankind's pride in aesthetic. Unlike animals, we have toilets. We've sold that feng shui crap to house moms everywhere. We have, again, those strange toddler pagaents. Clearly, we are the superior beings, and all this is shown through the sculptors' tedious attention to detail.
Finally, there are the poses of the hands. Or rather, the fact that they are posed at all. The various hands each carry a million emotions, from the righteousness of a clenched fist to the hilarity of what I can only assume is a tickle fight. Only humans have created symbols out of hand gestures. A hoof does not encapsulate millenia of oppression. This was likely unintentional, but nonetheless a puissant factor of the pieces' message.
Unfortunately I didn't get the names of the artists so I can't recommend them or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were descendants of Donatello or Michaelangelo. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as they say, but obviously that is not the case here. These artists were humanists with a message for the world, and they delievered it flawlessly. While there is a myriad of other reasons these hands are complete ingenuity, I will cease my verbosity here, as I think I've made my case. Also, I've run out of pompous vocabulary to use.