Lot Essay
In a 1992 interview the artist commented as follows:
You will have noticed that on my works I do not only attach my signature to my works, but I seal them with my thumbmark, too.
This is also an homage to conventions -- the famous "artist's signature". I began doing this when I produced monochrome works; by affixing my thumbprint I added some colour, perhaps even some romance. Or as some of my friends jokingly said: a touch of eroticism. But to be honest I did not harbour any such sanguine thoughts; I did it simply to follow the time-honoured formalistic tradition of the artist signing his work and interpreted the tradition in my own way. To my knowledge, it is not permissible to substitute one's thumbprint for one's personal seal when signing official documents, although the thumb print is the most accurate way of identifying an individual. Nobody can substitute his thumbprint for mine -- there is no second print which looks the same. Moreover, when one dies, the thumbprint cannot be misused by others, quite unlike Japanese seals (hanko). Needless to say that a thumbprint as such is a print, too.
You will have noticed that on my works I do not only attach my signature to my works, but I seal them with my thumbmark, too.
This is also an homage to conventions -- the famous "artist's signature". I began doing this when I produced monochrome works; by affixing my thumbprint I added some colour, perhaps even some romance. Or as some of my friends jokingly said: a touch of eroticism. But to be honest I did not harbour any such sanguine thoughts; I did it simply to follow the time-honoured formalistic tradition of the artist signing his work and interpreted the tradition in my own way. To my knowledge, it is not permissible to substitute one's thumbprint for one's personal seal when signing official documents, although the thumb print is the most accurate way of identifying an individual. Nobody can substitute his thumbprint for mine -- there is no second print which looks the same. Moreover, when one dies, the thumbprint cannot be misused by others, quite unlike Japanese seals (hanko). Needless to say that a thumbprint as such is a print, too.