Gesture

Gesture Defined

• (noun) a movement that expresses an idea

• (verb) to indicate something with a movement

• (root) The Latin words gestura means “way of carrying” or “mode of action”.

Gesture in Artistic Practice

For artists, a gesture comes from quickly moving their body to make a mark. The following videos show how the artists Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), Jenny Saville (b. 1970), and Theaster Gates (1881–1973) use gesture in their artworks. Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss artist known for his figurative work (artworks representing humans). He uses gesture to define the essence of a physical form. Jenny Saville is a British painter known for her large-scale (enormous) paintings of nude women. She uses gesture to describe the surface of flesh, giving it movement and raw, emotional meaning. Theaster Gates is an American social practice artist from Chicago. He uses gesture as performance to symbolically comment on institutional racism.