David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979

[David Hammons]

David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979

New York City, USA: The Drawing Center, 2021

136 pp., 22.6 x 15 cm, softcover

Edition size unknown

Before the assemblages, installations and performances (Bliz-aard Sale, for example) for which he later became known, David Hammons began his career making monoprints of his own body. These were made by greasing his own body - or the body of another person - with margarine and baby oil, and pressing or rolling body parts against paper, then sprinkling the surface with charcoal and powdered pigment. The technique was often combined with silkscreens and collaged found objects. 

David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968–1979 is the first title to focus exclusively on these early works on, presenting thirty-two body prints which introduce the major themes of the artist's fifty-year career. The publication features a conversation between curator and activist Linda Goode Bryant and artist Senga Nengudi, as well as a photo essay by photographer Bruce W. Talamon, who documented David Hammons at work in his Los Angeles studio in 1974.

Available for $28 US, from the publisher, here.