The roof of City Gallery Wellington is now home to a "kinda creepy" five-metre-tall sculpture of a hand with a face called Quasi, by New Zealand artist Ronnie van Hout.
The hand, which stands on two fingers and features an unsmiling face, was winched onto the roof of the gallery yesterday by helicopter. It is scheduled to remain in place for up to three years.
Made from steel, polystyrene and resin, the hand is named Quasi, after Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre-Dame in French author Victor Hugo's 1831 novel of the same name.
The back of the hand features a face described by City Gallery Wellington as a "partial self-portrait" of Van Hout.
Quasi was craned in place on top of City Gallery Wellington
"The giant hybrid face-hand is based on scans of the artist's own body parts," said the gallery. "It's as if the hand of the artist has developed a monstrous life of its own." The gallery tweeted to announce the public sculpture's arrival on Monday: "Is it a bird" Is it a plane" No ? Quasi has landed!", but it has received a mixed reception.
Responding to the tweet, members of the public described the hand as "really ugly" and "kinda creepy".

Is it a bird" Is it a plane" No?Quasi has landed! This morning, Ronnie van Hout?s Quasi was installed on our roof. Quasi is a joint project with Wellington Sculpture Trust, with support from Wellington City Council, Wellington Community Trust, and Ric...