Issue 116 - July 2011 - Page 1

Amazing Hand Paintings – The Work of Artist Guido Daniele

Outline
Circulating message features a series of images showing wonderfully detailed depictions of birds and animals painted on human hands.

Brief Analysis
The photographs are genuine. They depict the work of talented Italian artist Guido Daniele who uses human hands as his canvas.

Detailed analysis and references below example.

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Last updated: 27th June 2011
First published: 27th June 2011
Article written by Brett M. Christensen
About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer

Example

Subject: FW: These are Amazing - Never Wash Your Hands

Never Wash Your Hands? It'll take him four hours to do one hand. He then photographs it for posterity. I cannot imagine how he does it, the eyes are so remarkably lifelike. It took him 10 hours to do the two-handed Eagle picture.

Hand Painting

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

Detailed Analysis
These photographs, which depict human hands wonderfully painted to look like various animals and birds, have been circulating via email, blogs and social media websites for several years.

Although some commentators have doubted their authenticity, the photographs are genuine and indeed depict human hand paintings. The hand paintings, dubbed "Handimals" are created by exceptionally talented Italian artist, Guido Daniele. A December 21, 2008 Sun-Herald article notes:

AT FIRST glance they appear to be wildlife photos but, on closer inspection, you realise each is a hand – or a ‘‘handimal’’, to be precise. The collection – made up of almost 60images that have flooded email inboxes around the world – is the handiwork of Italian artist Guido Daniele, dubbed ‘‘Michel-handgelo’’. Instead of a canvas, Daniele uses models’ hands to create animals – lions, zebras and a wedge-tailed eagle.

Guido Daniele first got the idea of painting on human hands after an advertising agency hired him to do some body paintings of animals. After researching how best to paint animals onto hands he created his first ‘‘handimal’’, that of the cheetah, shown above. Daniele notes that the hardest part is watching his creations being washed down the drain at the end of the painting day. An article about Daniele published on Shay Howe’s letscounthedays blog explains:

Most commonly, Daniele uses his son (Michael James, 15) and daughter (Ginevra, 22) as his primary canvases. " If you're spending hours on end holding someone's hand, I'd rather it be the hand of someone I love. There's nothing worse than working with a nervous, unfamiliar model whose hands are shaking." On average the typical "Handimal" takes around three to four hours to paint in its entirety. However the first time Daniele painted the eagle with outstretched wings clocked in at ten hours upon completion.

The hand paintings included above and many others can be viewed on Guido Daniele’s website.

References
A bird on the hand is worth a close look
Carnival of the handimals
Inspirational 'Handimals' Hand Paintings by Guido Daniele
Guido Daniele

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