The morphological riddle of a cartoon hand

The appeal and effectiveness of the cartoon caricature has been commonly discussed in two ways, one in terms of the representation of `type' (the averaging of all like things to create a stylized standard) and secondly the minimalist nature of its representation, as a type of linear short hand, or abbreviated reproduction of a veridical source. Using a very specific example ' the caricatured cartoon hand' this paper will trace the cultural and perceptual morphology of this particular cartoon representation via the perspectives of varying and sometimes conflicting fields of research (science, psychology, art history, art practice) including examples of my own studio experiments as a continued endeavor to understand the potentials of these variant of points of view and the possible origins and explanation for one of the most enduring of all cartoon canons.