Artist Zarina Situmorang creates exquisite oil paintings of hands
Artist Zarina Situmorang highlights the delicate beauty of hands in her exquisite oil paintings. Inspired by Caravaggio’s dramatic use of chiaroscuro, she paints pairs of hands on a black background and adds soft glowing lighting that lends a delicate feel to the composition.
This ongoing series of paintings is titled Warmth. “I am very inspired by emotions, I want to tell a story with my paintings,” says Situmorang.
That is why he leans towards representations of hands. Through her different gestures, she is able to communicate a wide variety of feelings. “Hands fascinate me! They speak louder than words – you can see the emotion or the sadness just by looking at the hand gestures,” she adds. “They give me the ability to speak of hope, warmth and faith without even showing my face.”
Situmorang enhances his hand paintings by harnessing the power of light. Each of his frames features a solid background, similar to a dark stage.
It then includes a warm yellow light emanating from the palms of the hands, and its mysterious origin lends an overall sense of mystery to the image.
“The Warmth series is inspired by my search for home: as a child, I didn’t feel safe where I lived,” she explains. “He always said ‘I want to go home,’ even though he had no other safe space.
So in the end I found it in myself, in my own hands.” You can buy limited edition prints and original paintings through Situmorang’s online store, and follow her on Instagram to keep up with all her projects.
