Flight Fantasy Early
David Hammons
1980s, Records, reeds, string and hair
For his exhibition at Just Above Midtown in 1975, Hammons created several works with grease-stained shopping bags and Black hair. He wanted to use materials connected to everyday life and the body, but also created subtle allusions to art history. Speaking about the work, Hammons connected the grease stains to Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, and also nodded to Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase. Hammons knew his kind of abstract art was (in 1975) unlikely to sell, and for some African American abstract artists, this work with greasy bags was seen as an affront.
[Tate Modern]
Part of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (July to October 2017)
Flight Fantasy Early
David Hammons
1980s, Records, reeds, string and hair
For his exhibition at Just Above Midtown in 1975, Hammons created several works with grease-stained shopping bags and Black hair. He wanted to use materials connected to everyday life and the body, but also created subtle allusions to art history. Speaking about the work, Hammons connected the grease stains to Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, and also nodded to Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase. Hammons knew his kind of abstract art was (in 1975) unlikely to sell, and for some African American abstract artists, this work with greasy bags was seen as an affront.
[Tate Modern]
Part of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (July to October 2017)