AS: Are these hands from the same orange mannequin?
MA: No, these were really beautiful. They are wooden and with a black base, and I think they are from the twenties. I bought them maybe thirty years ago when I first got my studio, the one I still have today. There was an antique shop below me. Two young boys ran it, and they had very interesting things. I passed the window every day and saw these two hands. I desired them every time I walked past, but I remember they were quite expensive. One day, I descended the staircase into the shop and decided to purchase the hands. I brought them back to my studio, and it took almost 30 years before I started working with them.
AS: Did you physically place them around your studio?
MA: Yes, I did. Let me tell you something. First, it was a table with tarot cards in place of the hands. But it was too pathetic and I felt ashamed. A friend came over to my studio, looked at the tarot cards, and said, “Oh, you’re doing tarot.” I thought, “This is really bad…I have to cover it up.”
AS: It’s funny you say that because I feel like when someone goes to your house or takes a picture of you, you clean everything up. You put things where you want them to be placed. Paintings are very similar to that, where everything is positioned.
KA: In the studio, you’re always very naked. You have to be naked and try really embarrassing things and take crazy chances. It’s necessary if you want to come further from yourself and expand your experiences, to try different colors or experiment with whatever pops up in your head. I think it’s the same for a musician, or for any type of creative person.