TO AN AUDIENCE — AUGUSTIN LIGNIER

ARTIST WORKS EXHIBITIONS PUBLICATIONS BIOGRAPHY CONTACT

To An Audience2026
Hand drawing pencil on tracing paper
2 parts,each 29,7*42cm.

JB Hands (Jeff Bezos at the Amazon convention, Las Vegas, USA, Jun.6, 2019, AP/John Locher)

PT Hands (Peter Thiel at the 42School talk, Paris, France, Feb.24, 2016, REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen)

BG Hands
(Bill Gates at a New York Times conference, New York City, USA, Nov.6, 2019,
GETTY IMAGES/Mike Cohen)

MZ Hands
(Mark Zuckerberg at the Georgetown University talk, Washington, USA, Oct.17, 2019,
GETTY IMAGES/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)

EM Hands
(Elon Musk at the Viva Technology conference, Paris, France, Jun.16 2023,
REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

SZC Hands
(Shou Zi Chew at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Washington, USA, Mar.23, 2023,
GETTY IMAGES/Chip Somodevilla)

AK Hands
(Alex Karp at the World Economic forum,Davos,Switzerland,Jan.18,2023,
BLOOMBERG/Stefan Wermuth)

1:1 pencil tracings of hands, taken from press images of tech CEOs speaking at public events. Each drawing isolates a gesture, removing the body and its context. Presented as diptychs on tracing paper, the works reduce speech to movement. What remains are precise, controlled gestures—detached from the figures that produced them.
Stripped of their speakers, these hands suggest a form of authority that operates from behind the scene: present only through its effects, like a puppeteer hidden behind it’s curtain.
The titles retain the full captions of the source images, anchoring each gesture within systems of mediation and circulation.

Drawing