Giant Hands of Mario Irarrázabal
Note:This hand is now part of a huge collection of "Giant Hands Around The World". The collection contains 170+ hand sculptures.
Mario Covarrubias Irarrázabal, the famous Chilean sculptor is well known for
his art work entitled 'Mano del Desierto' (meaning: Hand of Desert) in
the Atacama Desert, Chile. He has a passion for making giant sized hands. This post is
about the four giant hands created by him. These are namely;
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- The Hand (La Mano), Punta del Este, Uruguay - 1982
- The Hand (La Mano), Parque Juan Carlos I, Madrid, Spain - 1987
- Hand of Desert (Mano del Desierto) Atacama Desert, Chile - 1992
- The Hand (La Mano), Venice, Italy - 1995
This was first giant hand made by Mario Irarrázabal.
On its completion in 1982 Irarrázabal gained
worldwide acclaim and made 3 more giant hands including the most famous
Hand of Desert (Mano del Desierto)
in the
Atacama Desert, Chile.
La Mano (The Hand) aka Monumento al Ahogado (Meaning: Monument to the Drowned) is a sculpture of five fingers partially submerged in sand, located at Brava Beach, Punta del Este, Uruguay.
The sculpture is made of concrete and
plastic with reinforced steel bars, metal mesh, and a degradation-resistant
solvent covering the plastic on the outside.
Image from Flickr is by matt.hinsta
View location in Google Earth / Google Maps
Source: Wikipedia
2. The Hand, Parque Juan Carlos I, Madrid, Spain
This sculpture made in 1987 is the second giant hand made by Mario. It is similar to his original sculpture in Punta
del Este, Uruguay and shows
five fingers partially submerged in the ground.
However unlike the original hand at the
Brava Beach, Uruguay, where the fingers rise out from the sand on the beach, the
fingers here are rise out from paved ground.
Image from Flickr is by Richard Parmiter
View location in Google Earth / Google Maps
3. Hand of Desert, Atacama Desert, Chile
Mano del Desierto (meaning: Hand of Desert) is
the third giant hand made by Mario and
is most famous of giant hands created by him.
Inaugurated on March 28, 1992, the 11 metres (36 ft) tall sculpture, made of
iron and concrete, is a must stop for the travellers on the desolate Atacama
Desert stretch of Pan-American Highway.
As per Wikipedia;
"Irarrázabal used the human figure to express emotions like
injustice, loneliness, sorrow and torture. Its exaggerated size is said to
emphasize human vulnerability and helplessness."
Image from Flickr is by Fernando Mandujano
Image from Flickr is by palegoldenrod
View location in Google Earth / Google Maps
Source: Wikipedia
4. The Hand, Venice, Italy
The last (4th) giant hand by Mario was
originally installed
at the Riva Ca' Di Dio, Castello,
for the Venice Biennale in 1995.
This sculpture has four stretched
out fingers with thumb resting on the ground. Tired tourists often used the thumb as a bench.
Image from Panoramio is by AnnaJolanta 1
The sculpture remained at Riva Ca' Di Dio, at least till November 25, 2007 (Source:
Flickr Image)
and at some stage thereafter, it was relocated to a parking lot in Marghera,
mainland Venice, where it lies neglected without any maintenance. From Google Street View
(see below) it looks that it is in shambles and is barely noticeable to passersby.
It is understood that the authorities are planning to renovate it and
relocate again somewhere else. Source:
comune.venezia.it (pdf file in Italian) (English
Translation).
Image source: Google Street View
View current location in Google Earth / Google Street View
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