RAE • “DIAMOND HANDS”  • 2021 • New York City

"For his latest exhibition, Diamond Hands, Brooklyn artist RAE (aka RAE BK) hunts the streets of New York City for under-appreciated materials earmarked for landfills.”

[New York City, September 2-23, 2023] - Plastics, metals, wood scraps and other pieces of detritus not only provide the color and textures he craves but also contain small bits of cryptic information he treats as clues to a bigger story. Stories of people’s comings and goings made from items that once held value in sentiment or practicality are told in RAE's works, giving them new purpose, elevating them inside his homemade frames. 

Each of RAE’s pieces are made from combining smaller “finished” works into larger ones. Only after he’s created a vast amount of smaller works does RAE start to assemble sections together, forming unintentional combinations. This naive approach keeps open the final outcome of each work until the very end.

Some found materials were stapled, hammered, heated and melted into figures and faces that may have looked like the people they once belonged to. Others were sliced, glued and stretched into patterns to create motion or geometric shapes meant to play off the randomness of it all. At times, RAE also incorporated more literal line drawings  in an attempt to fill in the blanks of the story. However, in the end, they tended to mostly go off in their own direction, leaving the rest of up for interpretation. 

You see, a person with "Diamond Hands” is well aware things don’t always go as planned. They roll the dice, take risks and stay the course. Settling for the short term pleasures of those with “Paper Hands" just won’t do. Those who possess “Diamond Hands” have long term goals in mind and work to achieve them come hell or high water.  And one day, when things do eventually go the way of the “Diamond Handed”— the rewards are that much sweeter.