34 Facts About David Hammons

David Hammons was born on July 24,1943 and 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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".

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

David Hammons feels as if these two identities that he has are split and fundamentally at odds.

Later in his career, David Hammons has explored the sculptural medium in creating pieces.

Many critics see these objects as evocative of the desperation of the poor, Black urban class, but David Hammons reportedly saw a sort of sacrosanct or ritualistic power in these materials, which is why he utilized them so extensively.

However, David Hammons artwork is not limited to dealing with the theme of race.

David Hammons created a series of larger-than-life basketball hoops, meticulously decorated with bottle caps, evoking Islamic mosaic and design.

David Hammons continues his 'Bird' pieces with his 1990 work of the same name.

In 2007 David Hammons collaborated with his wife, Chie Hasegawa on a piece that enjoyed public acclaim.

In 2021, David Hammons collaborated with the Hudson River Park Trust and the Whitney Museum to create Days End.

In May 2021 the Whitney Museum of American Art unveiled David Hammons completed sculpture Day's End in Hudson River Park across from the Museum itself.

David Hammons situates himself alongside street vendors in downtown Manhattan in order to sell snowballs which are priced according to size.

In 2020, Hammons shared a previously unpublished image of a performance in an article by Daniel S Palmer for the New York Times.

David Hammons titled this show Greasy Bags and Barbeque Bones.

In 1980, David Hammons took part in Colab's ground-breaking The Times Square Show, which acted as a forum for exchange of ideas for a younger set of alternative artists in New York.

David Hammons's installation was made of glistening scattered shards of glass.

David Hammons has revisited the association of basketball and young black men in a series of drawings mad by repeatedly bouncing a dirty basketball on huge sheers of clean white paper set on the floor.

David Hammons has exhibited the theme of race in other mediums.

David Hammons continues to display the damaged work, and even includes sledgehammers to add to the character of the piece.

David Hammons has made drawings of Kool-Aid powder before covering them with a curtain; the curtain only being lifted under certain conditions.

David Hammons explored the video medium, collaborating with artist Alex Harsley on a number of video works, including Phat Free, which was included in the Whitney Biennial and other venues.

In 2014 David Hammons purchased a former warehouse in Yonkers, New York with the intention of creating his own art gallery there.

Similarly, when David Hammons heard that Miles Davis had died he brought a boombox to New York's Museum of Modern Art when he was installing his works for his 1991 show 'Dislocations'.

David Hammons has described himself as the head of the 'Duchamp Outpatient Clinic' and the company that owns his Yonkers Gallery is called 'Duchamp Realty'.

David Hammons received the MacArthur Fellowship in July 1991.