David Hammons is one of the most influential artists in our modern time, and i know he would hate the compliment, or perhaps resent the competive ensinuation with the phrase. Hammons work vibrates with a raw realism and surrealistic iconogrpahy, his pieces themematically centers on the black american experience, the absurdity of racial epitaphs, stereotypes, Counter-Consumerism and deep critiques on capitalism.
Ill try my best to put down some of his work below along with a brief description with citations as well as accompanying commentary that will be mine. i am doing this article strictly out of love of this artist, i see his influence in so many different facets of art, i hope you, like me, will find his art inspiring and thought provoking.
LEFT â Spade with Chains (1973) â Hammons moved to new york in 1972 and shortly after began his âSpadeâ Series, which was named and inspired by the racial slur âSpadeâ which was common in New York. where the artist employs a provocative, derogatory term, coupled with the literal gardening instrument, in order to make a visual pun between the blade of a shovel and an African mask, and a contemporary statement about the issues of bondage and resistance.
Right â Bird (1973) â This assemblage from 1973 is a tribute to Charlie Parker, the iconic American jazz musician. Parker was known as âYardbirdâ or âBirdâ throughout his career and alluded to this nickname in many of his most famous compositions, including âBird of Paradise,â âOrnithology,â and âYardbird Suite.â The African American musician, who died in 1955 at the age of thirty-four, remains one of the most influential saxophonists and composers in jazz history. Bird is composed of a saxophone, mannequin hands, and a spade. This workâin which Hammons makes a slight âdigâ at the word spade, a derogatory term for a black manâexpressly connects the crafts of two talented black artists.
âI WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY BLACK PEOPLE WERE CALLED SPADES, AS OPPOSED TO CLUBS. BECAUSE I REMEMBER BEING CALLED A SPADE ONCE, AND I DIDNâT KNOW WHAT IT MEANT; N****** I KNEW BUT SPADE I STILL DONâT. SO I TOOK THE SHAPE, AND STARTED PAINTING IT.â â David Hammons 1986
LEFT â Champ (1989) â The bright red boxing gloves could be a nod to Muhammad Ali, like Keith Haringâs tribute to friend and fellow artist Jean-Michel Basquiat with A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat. Regardless, Hammons makes a statement about the black experience and the aspiration of becoming a professional athlete. Duct-taped and tied together, the boxing gloves are the only icons of victory preventing the dark, rubber inner tube from becoming a victimâs flayed skin. Their unity alludes to the belief that black people cannot exist as significant and successful individuals unless they obtain athletic greatness. The attachment of the boxing gloves to the inner tube rather than a human body emphasizes that this determination for greatness attributed to the championâs own undoingâhe is simultaneously the victor and the victim. Hanging from a nail on the wall, Champ commemorates and mourns the black athletes, especially boxers, who âachieve themselves to deathâ and become symbols of black excellence.
RIGHT â America The Beautiful⊠(1969) â This striking work is from a series of âbody printsâ that David Hammons made early in his career, soon after his arrival in Los Angeles in 1963. To create these prints, he made impressions of his own face, arms, and torso by covering his body with oil or margarine, pressing it against a sheet of paper, and then sprinkling pigment on the surface. For America the Beautiful, the artist used lithography to add the American flag that envelops the central figure. Hammons created this work in 1968, toward the end of the civil rights movement and the beginning of the Black Power movement. The assertive combination of a patriotic symbol with the body of a black man (the artist) underscores the heightened racial tensions in the United States during this period.
âTHATâS WHY I LIKE DOING STUFF BETTER ON THE STREET, BECAUSE THE ART BECOMES JUST ONE OF THE OBJECTS THATâS IN THE PATH OF YOUR EVERYDAY EXISTENCE. ITâS WHAT YOU MOVE THROUGH, AND IT DOESNâT HAVE ANY SENIORITY OVER ANYTHING ELSE. THOSE PIECES WERE ALL ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT THE BLACK VIEWER HAD A REFLECTION OF HIMSELF IN THE WORK. WHITE VIEWERS HAVE TO LOOK AT SOMEONE ELSEâS CULTURE IN THOSE PIECES AND SEE VERY LITTLE OF THEMSELVES IN IT.â â David Hammons 1986
Higher Goals (1986) â The work was built on site in Brooklynâs Cadman Plaza Park over a period of eight weeks. The Temporary Structure Titled âHigher Goalsâ consists of five bottle cap-studded telephone poles ranging in height from 20â to 30â. Mounted at the top of each pole will be a basketball backboard (also covered with bottle caps) complete with hoop and net. In a labor-intensive process, Hammons nailed more than 10,000 bottle caps onto the surface of each pole to create distinctive diamond, spiral and mesh patterns. Hammons explained the concept behind Higher Goals with an analogy to professional basketball teams. âIt takes five to play on a team, but there are thousands who want to playânot everyone will make it, but even if they donât at least they tried.â This statement is indicative of Hammonsâ personal belief that aspirations should not be confined to set limits and that individuals should set goals at higher levels (i.e. above the standard 10-foot-high measure of a basketball net)â. Hammons provided a ordinary basketball hoop, net, and backboard are set on a three-story high pole â commenting on the almost impossible aspirations of sports stardom as a way out of the ghetto.
DOING THINGS IN THE STREET IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ART I THINK. BECAUSE ART HAS GOTTEN SOâŠ.I DONâT KNOW WHAT THE FUCK ART IS ABOUT NOW. IT DOESNâT DO ANYTHING. LIKE MALCOLM X SAID, ITâS LIKE NOVOCAINE. IT USED TO WAKE YOU UP BUT NOW IT PUTS YOU TO SLEEP. I THINK THAT ART NOW IS PUTTING PEOPLE TO SLEEP. THEREâS SO MUCH OF IT AROUND IN THIS TOWN THAT IT DOESNâT MEAN ANYTHING. THATâS WHY THE ARTIST HAS TO BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT HE SHOWS AND WHEN HE SHOWS NOW. BECAUSE THE PEOPLE ARENâT REALLY LOOKING AT ART, THEYâRE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER AND EACH OTHERâS CLOTHES AND EACH OTHERâS HAIRCUTS. â David Hammons 1986
Blizz-aard Ball Sale (1983) â Perhaps the most well known of his work was a critique on commodity, price, value, and consumerism in general. In this performance Hammons situates himself alongside street vendors in downtown Manhattan in order to sell snowballs which are priced according to size. This act serves both as a parody on commodity exchange and a commentary on the capitalistic nature of art fostered by art galleries. Furthermore, it puts a satirical premium on whiteness, ridiculing the superficial luxury of racial classification as well as critiquing the hard social realities of street vending experienced by those who have been discriminated against in terms of race or class.
âWHEN I WAS IN CALIFORNIA, ARTISTS WOULD WORK FOR YEARS AND NEVER HAVE A SHOW. SO SHOWING HAS NEVER BEEN THAT IMPORTANT TO ME. WE USED TO CUSS PEOPLE OUT: PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT OUR WORK, DEALERS, ETC., BECAUSE THAT PART OF BEING AN ARTIST WAS ALWAYS A JOKE TO US. WHEN I CAME TO NEW YORK, I DIDNâT SEE ANY OF THAT. EVERYBODY WAS JUST GROVELING AND TOMMING, ANYTHING TO BE IN THE ROOM WITH SOMEBODY WITH SOME MONEY. THERE WERE NO BAD GUYS HERE; SO I SAID, âLET ME BE A BAD GUY,â OR ATTEMPT TO BE A BAD GUY, OR PLAY WITH THE BAD AREAS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.â
  David Hammons [1/2] David Hammons is one of the most influential artists in our modern time, and i know he would hate the compliment, or perhaps resent the competive ensinuation with the phrase.
