Holding Hands (Red, Orange, Yellow, Teal & Blue)

The edition of Holding Hands was created to celebrate the permanent installation of the monumental bronze sculpture on Hoxton square, London. The prints were released in the local newspaper Hackney Today, with one unsigned print within each of the 108,000 copies on 21 September 2020. The artist later signed some of these prints, but very few of the total edition were signed, and the present signed complete set is comparably scarce.

The image of Holding Hands depicts two figures, moving in opposite directions, each seeming to be leading the other depending on where the viewer is standing, as a subtle reminder to view the world from other people’s perspectives. STIK’s figures radiate generosity and vulnerability, skilfully expressed in just a few, gestural lines. In the early 2000s STIK began creating unofficial public art in East London and the official and permanent installation of the monumental Holding Hands bronze in Hackney’s Hoxton Square represents a homecoming of sorts. For STIK, this image is a testament to hope and community, a ‘sign of universal love and solidarity’ as resonant today as it will be a century from now.

The 1 metre bronze maquette for the sculpture set a world record price for the artist when it was auctioned at Christie’s London, in October 2020. The proceeds of the sale established a fund to commission artists to create a new wave of public sculpture across the borough of Hackney.