HAND TOOLS

2022

ARTIST STATEMENT re: WORKING CLASS

Real physical work. We spend a lot of time in front of screens – as I am right now! While I am painting or drawing these tools, I am immersed in the satisfying structure of the form. They are perfect. These Hand Tools need to be perfect. By studying them further, I am reminded of the role they play in human life. Hand Tools are a liaison between the organic nature of the human body and the mathematical structures we build to survive on this planet. They need to be organic enough for our hands to hold with comfort yet engineered to behave mathematically.

By using hand tools in my paintings I am honoring the human, the working class and it’s system of signs, symbols, tools and structures bringing both the hand and the tool, the human and the work, into the hierarchy of art making. 

Tools are used by the working class.

A tool itself is used by a human being.

Tools evoke physical labor.

A tool is held by a person’s hand.

Using it correctly requires knowledge of the use of that tool and a reason to use that tool. The physical body’s survival on this planet has depended upon the command of hand tools to build shelter, hunt prey, farm land, bury the dead, cook food, etc. As we devolve into virtual reality and watch as the distribution of wealth is diverted away from the working class, hand tools remind us of the reality that human survival depends on a keen grasp of the actual world and a love of real, hard physical work. 

100 words:

By using hand tools in her paintings, Val Sivilli is honoring the human, the working class and it’s system of signs, symbols, tools and structures bringing both the hand and the tool, the human and the work, into the hierarchy of art making. The physical body’s survival on this planet has depended upon hand tools to build shelter, hunt prey, farm land, bury dead, cook food, etc. Devolving into virtual reality, we watch as the distribution of wealth is diverted away from the working class. Human survival depends on a grasping the physical and a love for hard physical work.