The Nasher Sculpture Center has announced the acquisition of a new work by artist Nic Nicosia.
Nicosia, a Dallas-based artist, created a stainless-steel sculpture called "bighands" that is currently on view in the Nasher Garden.
The work was commissioned by the Nasher Sculpture Center, and it was brought to the collection through the support of a group of patrons who admired Nicosia's artistic practice.
"It has been tremendous to witness the support for Nic and his ambitious foray into large-scale sculpture by the patrons and friends who came together to help bring this work to fruition," Director Jeremy Strick said. "Bighands promises to bring delight to our Nasher visitors, while compelling a thoughtful inquiry into the powerful language of bodily gestures."
According to the Nasher Sculpture Center, Nicosia is best known for his work in photography and film, but in the last decade, he began to make independent sculptures. Throughout his career, his photography has relied on the production of hand-made objects and constructed sets.
His early works included a group of personages reminiscent of works by Max Ernst, wire portraits similar to the early work of Alexander Calder, and anonymous male figures taking on various poses and personas, the Nasher Sculpture Center said.
Many of these works were made independently of his photography, but they were also used as models for his staged photographs and as real domestic interiors.
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According to the Nasher Sculpture Center, Nicosia began to work with a foundry to cast several of his compositions and enlarge others, one of which is the Nasher acquisition "bighands."
The work was enlarged in 2010 and cast in 2020. It stands over eight feet tall and depicts a bald male figure with oversized hands and feel, but it lacks distinguishing facial features or genitalia.
The sculpture's gesture, enlarged and ambiguous, involves one foot slightly in front of the other. The hands on the model are Nicosia's, making it an unusual yet powerful self-portrait, the Nasher Sculpture Center said.
According to the Nasher Center, "bighands" is the first work by Nicosia to enter the collection, and it is also the only large-scale sculpture by the artist in any museum collection to date.
