Though Penone is best known as a sculptor who began his career as a member of the Arte Povera group in Italy in the late 1960s, drawing has always been at the core of his practice. This is one of ten drawings---one for each finger---in which Penone extended each line of his fingerprint (at center) into a concentric pattern that eventually filled most of the sheet. The choice of a paper with a rough grain and the necessity of maintaining the spacing between the lines lend the gesture a tension that, as the artist said, "gives a necessity to the line." The final image resembles the growth rings of an ancient tree---a beautiful visualization of the fusion of man and nature that is central to Penone's art.
Signed and dated in graphite, at lower left of the paper that is folded around the stretcher, "Giuseppe Penone 2001".