Exploring the extensive oeuvre of a highly prolific and versatile artist, this definitive monograph delves into three decades of innovative work. It highlights the artist's unique contributions and the impact of their diverse artistic expressions, showcasing a rich tapestry of creativity that has captivated audiences. The book serves as a comprehensive resource for understanding the evolution and significance of the artist's career, making it essential for both fans and scholars alike.
This book is the first dedicated to David Hammons' early works on paper, specifically his monoprints and collages created between 1968 and 1979. In these pieces, Hammons utilized his body as a drawing tool and printing plate, exploring unconventional image-making techniques. He would grease his body or that of another person with substances like margarine and baby oil, pressing or rolling body parts onto paper, and adding charcoal and powdered pigment. The resulting impressions serve as intimate indexes of faces, skin, and hair, existing between spectral portraits and physical traces. These body prints mark the origin of Hammons' artistic language, which has evolved over his long career, emphasizing the artifacts and subjects of contemporary Black life in the United States. More than fifty years later, these works celebrate the sacredness of objects touched by the Black body while critiquing racial oppression. The highlighted body prints introduce major themes from Hammons' 50-year career, integral to postwar American art history. The book also features a conversation between curator Linda Goode Bryant and artist Senga Nengudi, alongside a photo essay by Bruce W. Talamon, who documented Hammons in his Los Angeles studio in 1974.
Isa Genzken is one of the most significant female artists of the past 30 years, yet her extensive contributions across various media—sculptures, paintings, photographs, collages, drawings, artist's books, films, installations, and public works—remain largely underrecognized in the United States. This publication coincides with the first comprehensive retrospective of her diverse work, covering 40 years and serving as the most complete English monograph on her. Genzken has been a key figure in the art world since her mid-1970s exhibitions, inspiring a new generation of artists with her innovative approach. The last decade has been particularly fruitful for her, as she has redefined assemblage for contemporary art. The catalogue features essays that trace her artistic evolution from 1973 to the present, along with an extensive plate section that chronologically outlines her major works and exhibitions. Born in Germany in 1948, Genzken gained early acclaim for her geometric wood sculptures while studying at Dusseldorf's Kunstakademie. Her work has since evolved to include sculptures in various materials, influenced by Minimalism yet rich in narrative. From the 1990s onward, she has produced increasingly intricate sculptural installations, alongside paintings that explore surface and light.
