COMMENT OF THE DAY: UH . . . HELLO? “I would love to know more about the giant brick hand that greets you as you drive east of Lyons. Does anyone know what its origin is?” [RWBoyd, commenting on Hello from the Fifth]
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I too am interested. It’s wild how nobody wants the credit. How long has it been there? I only noticed it about 5 years ago, right about the time the fifth ward mural popped up
Thanks Google!
I found an article on the subject at the Daily Cougar’s archives: http://archive.thedailycougar.com/vol67/119/news/news2.html
The installation was made by a Russian born, Israeli resident artist named Tanya Preminger through UH Sculpture Department and the Buffalo Bayou Art Park artist-in-residence program. It was meant to have plantings in the fingertips of the hand, which is named “Hi.”
Oh, found a bit more on Preminger’s own website. Her official date for the sculpture is 2002. On the page she actually names it “Salute”:
http://www.tanyapreminger.com/mother/pages/urban2.html
Thank You! Sihaya,
Thanks for the information about the big hand.
Sure,movocelot. Sorry if I seemed snarky; I was aiming more for silly. I’m actually surprised at how hard it is to find much more information about the hand, since it apparently wasn’t some sort of ancient, private endeavor half a century ago. I still haven’t found a Chronicle story or an Art Guys feature, but I’m still looking.
Tanya Preminger’s own website titles the sculpture “Salute” and dates it to 2002. There’s a picture of the hand with plantings:
http://www.tanyapreminger.com/mother/pages/urban2.html
The sculptor’s website shows a picture of the hand with plantings and says that the title is “Salute.” Unfortunately I seem to run into some sort of spamcatching limbo whenever I try to post the link, but anyone who’s curious can type in her name followed by dot com to find it.
Nice find, Sihaya!