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An unexpected collection of over 100 images spanning the history of representations, Jeux de mains (sculpted, molded, photographed, or painted) is like a treasure chest of this marvelous five-fingered tool.

Most artists have, at some point, represented the universal symbol of creation which is the hand. Many of them have also chosen the hand as a recurring pattern in their work. This observation inspired Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi — editor and founder of Chose Commune — to gather the works that caught her attention in a book, following no thematic or chronological order. The selection was made in collaboration with Stephen Ellcock, who has made a name for himself over the past few years for bringing the art gallery directly to people with his glorious collection of images which he shares everyday on Instagram and Facebook. From Pablo Picasso to Helena Almeida, from Louise Bourgeois to Alberto Giacometti, from John Baldessari to Francesca Woodman, and comprising a multitude of treasures from the ancient ages to documents from popular imagery, Jeux de mains confronts and mixes famous, emerging and anonymous artists from a wide-range of practices. The result is a collection of more than a hundred images compiled intuitively in this book.

Note: This is a French-folded book. The pages are not meant to be cut. By gently part-opening the pages and looking inside, you will discover information about each of the artworks.

List of artists:

ALBARRÀN CABRERA — ALBIN-GUILLOT  Laure — ALMEIDA Helena —  ÁLVAREZ BRAVO Manuel —  AUBÖCK Carl — BALDESSARI John — BALLEN Roger — BARK Jared — BAUGHAN Rosa —BERNHARD Ruth — BLUMENFELD Erwin — BORREMANS Michaël — BOUCHER Pierre — BOURGEOIS Louise  — BUONAROTTI Michelangelo — CAHUN Claude — CALLE Sophie — CARAFA Giovanni — CHIEH-JEN Chen — CLARK Harold T. — CUDDON Katie — DE BLAUWER Katrien — DE MOÜY Iris — DEGAS Edgar — DIEULEFILS Pierre — DILL Lesley —DYKE William — EDGERTON Harold — GHIRRI Luigi — GIACOMETTI Alberto — GIBSON Ralph — GILL Simryn — GORDON Daniel — GUITTARD Alice — GUSTON Philip — GUÉRARD Henri Charles — HIROSHIGE Utagawa — HOLBEIN (Le Jeune) Hans — HOPPÉ Emil Otto — INGRES Jean-Auguste-Dominique — ISHIUCHI MIYAKO — ITURBIDE Graciela — JEEWON KIM Shantal — KAWAUCHI Rinko — KEITH ROACH Clementine — KERTÉSZ André — LEPPÄLÄ Anni — LOTAR Eli — L’ADMIRAL Jan — MAURER Dora — MELOTTI Fausto — MICHALS Duane — MINKINNEN Arno — MOHOLY-NAGY Lazslo — MORELLI Giovanni  — MUNARI Bruno — MUÑOZ Oscar — NADAR Félix — NESHAT Shirin — ONES Fiona — O’BRIEN John — PARADIN Claude — PESCE Gaetano — PICASSO Pablo — PINARD Guillaume — PÉTROVITCH Françoise — RAY Man — RICHTER Gerhard — ROCHAS-PÀRIS Lia — RODIN Auguste — SCHIELE Egon — SHOVLIN Jamie — STEINBERG Saul — STIEGLITZ Alfred — SUDA Issei — TARABELLA Philippe — UEMATSU Keiji — VON MENZEL Adolf Frierdrich Erd-mann — VRELANT Willem — WAESE Alice — WATSON Claire — WHITE CO H.C WILHELMUS COUWENBERG Henricus — WOODMAN Francesca — YOGANANTHAN Vasantha

‘Solid Ground’ by Nathalie Lautenbacher of Aalto University comprises a selection of photographs and thoughtful essays in its close examination of ceramics and their appeal. While the field of design currently covers a variety of different materials and technologies, and even operates within immaterial domains, the ancient art of ceramics remains highly relevant. The book’s seven chapters reflect not only today’s trends but also lasting phenomena within the field of ceramics. Many of these themes are archaic, having evolved naturally over time. Writers from a variety of fields search for bridges between culture, art, and academia, to discover the roots of this versatile material.

“White” is not a book about colors. It is rather Kenya Haras attempt to explore the essence of “White,” which he sees as being closely related to the origin of Japanese aesthetics – symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. The central concepts discussed by Kenya Hara in this publication are emptiness and the absolute void. Kenya Hara also sees his work as a designer as a form of communication. Good communication has the distinction of being able to listen to each other, rather than to press one’s opinion onto the opponent. Kenya Hara compares this form of communication with an “empty container”. In visual communication, there are equally signals whose signification is limited, as well as signals or symbols such as the cross or the red circle on the Japanese flag, which – like an “empty container” – permit every signification and do not limit imagination. Not alone the fact that the Japanese character for white forms a radical of the character for emptiness has prompted him the closely associate the color white with emptiness.

The Keramikos book presents front-and-back photographic records of 300
painted pieces that artists Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Natsuko Uchino
produced since 2010 – including plates, bowls, pitchers and oil jars.
Some objects are accompanied by narrative descriptions that present
aspects of the duo’s vast and complex research exploring notions of
society, religion, politics, style and technique through the long
history of ceramic production motifs from Hispano-Moresque, Byzantine,
Islamic and Korean ceramics. Each plate is printed on the recto side
with its reverse shown in the same position on the verso side of the
same page. An extensive index completes the book as well as an interview
with the artist and curator Nicolas Trembley.

“L’homme penché à l’oiseau” is a limited edition lithograph by Alexandra Duprez, the painter behind the cover of our book “Jeux de mains”. Born in Douarnenez (Brittany) where she still lives, her unique and distinctive style places the human figure at the centre of her work. This lithograph was printed by Alexandra Duprez herself in collaboration with the Musée de l’Imprimerie de Nantes.

This volume presents Aldridge’s recent and older works, and features an interview and three original essays about her practice.

“For me it is about the conversation between materials and approaches, allowing the work to discuss and emphasise strategies of making and reception through different choices. The push and pull between dualities such as synthetic versus natural, object versus subject, inside versus outside runs throughout my practice and prevents the meaning of an artwork [from] becoming prescriptive. This way of working allows for a kind of language of comparison. It affords me space to articulate my interests in a way that doesn’t pin down the work or explain it away; rather, it provides me with a framework to take risks with the practice. It’s not so easy to be able to say what something is doing while you are doing it, but as long as I am inside that tension you’re speaking of, I know I am onto something.” —Laura Aldridge

The Journey of Things by Magdalene Odundo has been published alongside the exhibition of the same name presented at The Hepworth Wakefield in Spring 2019. The book features 44 of Odundo’s vessels alongside a large selection of museological and contemporary objects that reveal the wide range of global references that have informed her practice. The book object comprises a series of interleaved sections presenting an organic flow of content which pairs and juxtaposes the historic and the contemporary, featuring works by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Lucie Rie, Jean Arp, as well as ancient vessels from Greece and Egypt, historic ceramics from Africa, Asia and Central America, and ritual objects from across the African continent.

Makoto Kagoshima, based in the southern island of Japan, illustrates whimsical and heart-warming motifs on clay making each ceramic a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art. As an avid gardener, motifs such as pansies and roses appear throughout his designs with occasional appearances of butterflies and other fantastical creatures.

Like a gentle window into the play of emotions, Little Passing Thoughts is filled with drawings to meditate, escape, or simply smile.

Orfeo Tagiuri scribbles day and night on a small notebook. He tears away some of the drawings, to throw in the bin because they’re not good enough, to give away to friends — to have a laugh or to remember a moment — or to sell to a stranger who shared the exact same feeling or thought, for what Orfeo draws with a black pen are universal emotions. This pocket-sized book, compiling over 350 drawings, is meant to be carried everywhere and opened just when one needs to take a break, get inspired, and breathe.

“Each of these drawings is fished out from the river of little passing thoughts. I don’t know where they come from but sometimes I take the time to gently scoop them up and set them down. They are a great joy, relief and meditation to make. I hope you can feel that” — Orfeo Tagiuri

Christine Furuya-Gössler captures her reality with an almost enigmatic distance. Photographs (1978–1985) brings together seven years of photography, revealed for the very first time.

Primarily known through the eyes of her husband, Seiichi Furuya, for whom she was the muse, Christine began taking photographs in 1978, when they met.

As a photographer of reality, she offers a unique vision of her private life and her relationship with the world. Furuya-Gössler photographs her family, moments of sharing and celebration, and her travels, all while maintaining a distance from anyone who tries to capture her essence. The palpable melancholy that pervades her images provides a glimpse into her inner world, yet it does not allow us to fully grasp or understand it.

Composed of more than 120 photographs, Photographs (1978–1985) showcases for the first time the work of Christine Furuya-Gössler, which has never been exhibited before. This monograph serves as the first posthumous collection of the photographer’s work, covering a creative period of seven years, interrupted by her death in 1985.

From Clin d’Oeil: A Subjective and Incomplete Anthology on Eyes (by Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi and Stephen Ellcock), this poster by Lia Rochas-Páris (I’ll be seeing you, 2022) captures the quiet mystery and expressive depth found in every gaze.
A companion to the book, yet complete on its own.

From  Clin d’Oeil: A Subjective and Incomplete Anthology on Eyes (by Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi and Stephen Ellcock), this poster by Penny Davenport (“Forgiving Mountain, 2023) captures the quiet mystery and expressive depth found in every gaze.
A companion to the book, yet complete on its own.

From Clin d’Oeil: A Subjective and Incomplete Anthology on Eyes (by Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi and Stephen Ellcock), this poster by Shai Yehezkelli (“Night Scroll Across the border”, 2023) captures the quiet mystery and expressive depth found in every gaze.
A companion to the book, yet complete on its own.