Palpable Art

Palpable Art Commentary by Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft Cite Share Show Bible Passage Paul Neagu’s Full Hand acts as a contrasting companion to his work Empty Hand. In this second sculpture, a large yet life-size hand composed of wooden cells is again encased in a sturdy wooden frame, except in this instance the cells are full blocks, as opposed to the hollow compartments of Empty Hand. The dark wood of the sculpture is grainy, and the work features some rough, uneven edges and exposed string. Each segment or cell of the hand is marked by a raised wedge, presenting an uneven surface texture. On the human body, the hand is the part most associated with the sensation of touch, as well as with actions of shaping, moulding, working, and creating. And it was Neagu’s intent that his art should not merely be looked at, but should be open to active exploration by all of the human senses. In his ‘Palpable Art Manifesto’, released in 1969 alongside an exhibition of his work in Edinburgh, he asserted that the eye was surely losing its major role in responding to art and beauty in the world. The eye is ‘fatigued, perverted, shallow’, he wrote—its culture is ‘degraded’; it has been ‘seduced by photography, film, and television’ (Neagu 1969). Given this ‘seduction’ and distraction of the eye, Neagu called for a reorientation of art away from a strictly visual emphasis and towards being ‘palpable’ and tangible instead. This is at the same time a call for art to be better and more fully integrated into social and cultural life. In the text of Haggai 1, the prophet tells the people that they have busied themselves with their own concerns and turned fruitlessly away from the task of rebuilding the house of the Lord. A reorientation of their hearts and actions is needed. After YHWH declares to his people ‘I am with you’ (vv.12–13), the spirit of the people is stirred, and they go to work on the Temple. Their attention is drawn back to their God. Neagu’s tactile sculpture prompts the reader to consider what it means to put one’s hands to work for a greater purpose, and to find them full. References Clayton, Eleanor. 2015. ‘Paul Neagu: Palpable Sculpture: Leeds’, The Burlington Magazine, 157.1352: 803–04 Neagu, Paul. 1969. ‘Palpable Art Manifesto!’, available at https://www.demarco-archive.ac.uk/assets/4631-p1969_document_page_14_palpable_art_manifesto_by_paul_neagup/lightbox [accessed 22 October 2024) ‘Paul Neagu interviewed by Mel Gooding, for the National Life Stories project Artists’ Lives’, 1994–95, British Library Sound & Moving Image reference, C466/27