HAMMONS, David; JONES, Kellie (ed.)
October Files 29: David Hammons

A collection of essays on one of the most important living Black artists of our time, David Hammons (b. 1943). Documenting five decades of visual practice from 1982 to the present, this book features contributions from scholars, artists, cultural workers, and cultural critics, including Guy Trebay, Greg Tate, Coco Fusco, Glenn Ligon, Robert Farris Thompson, Alex Alberro, and Manthia Diawara.

A star of the West Coast Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and the winner of a Prix de Rome prize as well as a MacArthur Fellowship, David Hammons rose to fame in Los Angeles with his body prints, in which he used his entire body as a printing plate. His later work engaged with materials that he found in urban environments—from greasy brown paper bags, discarded hair from barber shops, and empty bottles of cheap wine—which he turned into things of wonder while also commenting on a country's neglect of its citizens. In this volume, a new generation of scholars, Tobias Wofford, Abbe Schriber, and Sampada Aranke, broaden the theoretical mapping of Hammons's career and its impact, challenging viewers to imagine, in the words of Aranke, “how to see like Hammons.” [publisher's note]

Published by MIT Press, 2024
Monographs / Anthologies / Art Criticism / Art Theory / Artists' Writings