Hands

This book contains more than 400 pictures of Gunnar Smoliansky's hands, each a spontaneous composition crafted by the photographer in his traditional darkroom. The inspiration for this series was unexpected and Smoliansky pursued it with an artist's rigor, creating a complex series, each image a nuanced variation on a theme. Some pictures are deceptively simple, hardly recognizable abstractions; others are realistic, revealing even the texture of Smoliansky's palm; while others still are almost violent inky overlappings. By bypassing the tool of the camera and reinterpreting the photogram, Smoliansky revisits one of the earliest means of photographic picture making and creates a gestural space between photography and drawing.