David Hammons

David Hammons (born July 24, 1943) is an American artist, best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s.

David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois, the youngest of ten children being raised by a single mother.

This dynamic caused great financial strain on his family during his childhood; he later stated that he is uncertain how they managed to 'get by' during this time.

Although not inclined academically, Hammons showed an early talent for drawing and art; however the ease at which these practices came to him caused him to develop disdain for it.

At the start of his career during the 1960s Hammons primary medium was body prints.

This unique art was made by greasing Hammons' own body; then, he would press it on the paper and add graphite or another medium to accentuate the body print.

Hammons acknowledges that he borrowed this technique from the French Artist, Yves Klein.

Much of Hammons' Body Prints reflect one of his main influences for his artwork - that being race.

Much of his work reflects his commitment to the civil rights and Black Power movements.

As a black man experiencing these movements first-hand his artwork is rooted deeply in his personal experiences.

These themes have been demonstrated in a range of his body prints.

In 1962 he moved to Los Angeles, where he started attending Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) from 1966 to 1968 and the Otis Art Institute from 1968 to 1972.

He was never officially enrolled there, but Charles White allowed him to attend night classes.

There he was influenced by artists such as Charles White, Bruce Nauman, John Baldessari, Noah Purifoy, and Chris Burden, all of whom would soon be internationally known.

During his time in LA, he met Senga Nengudi, a performance and conceptual artist with whom he later shared a studio.

With Nengudi and others, Hammons formed Studio Z (artist collective) (a.k.a. LA Rebellion), an art collective that collaborated on artistic works.

Other members of Studio Z included Maren Hassinger, Ronn Davis, Duval Lewis, RoHo, Franklin Parker, Barbara McCullough, Houston Conwill, and Joe Ray (artist).

In 1966, Hammons married Rebecca Williams, with whom he had two children.

This is specifically seen in his "Spade" works he created during the 1970s - the word being used ironically to reflect Hammons lack of understanding as to why it is used as a derogatory term for African-Americans.

Although not exclusively limited to Body Prints, many of the artworks in this series are conducted in this medium.

Similarly, his 1970 painting, Black First, America Second, is 2 images of himself being wrapped into the American flag.

It is his black self and his American self.

The couple divorced in 1972.

In 1974 Hammons settled in New York City, where he slowly became better known nationally.

He still lives and works in New York.

There is Spade, a 1974 print where the artist pressed his face against the shape leaving a caricature-like imprint of Negroid features.

Also in the Spade series is Spade (Power for the Spade) this piece depicts a body print embossed onto a canvas depicting a Spade card you would find in a pack of cards.

This artwork attempts to reclaim the term transforming its meaning from a racist term into a "badge of honor".

In 2003, Hammons married Chie Hasegawa, a Japanese-born artist.

Hammons has been reluctant to discuss his early and personal life, as he wishes to avoid his work being framed in a certain way.

This is exhibited in how he inverts the stereotypical relationship between creator and curator, stating "The way I see it, the Whitney Biennial and Documenta need me, but I don't need them".

Hammons has been philanthropic with other black artists, namely by buying their work and helping them gain recognition.

Through his varied work and media, and frequent changes in direction, Hammons has managed to avoid one signature visual style.

Much of his work makes allusions to, and shares concerns with minimalism and post-minimal art, but with added Duchampian references to the place of Black people in American society.

Hammons' work is made of not only allusions, but also metaphors.

These metaphors develop into symbols that hold significant meaning in the art world as well as in the public eye.

David Hammons continues to offers a crucial interpretation of the African-American art history in the life of a colored person through these symbols.

It has been stated by Anthony Huberman that "Hammons work plays with art the way a jazz musician plays with sound - he gets inside it, bends it, twists it around and keeps it from getting too still or getting too comfortable."

David Hammons was considered quite distinguished from his fellow young African American artists of his time; he was seen as "postblack - avant la lettre, his work alluded to atrusim the rest of us are just waking up to".

On James Turrell's works concerning perception of light, Hammons said "I wish I could make art like that, but we're too oppressed for me to be dabbling out there.... I would love to do that because that could also be very black. You know, as a black artist, dealing just with light. They would say, "how in the hell could he deal with that, coming from where he did?" I want to get to that, I'm trying to get to that, but I'm not free enough yet. I still feel I have to get my message out."