David Hammons

Interpretation

In Rock Head, David Hammons affixed afro-textured hair to a stone to create an unconventional portrait. This sculpture and others like it developed out of his performances in Harlem in the 1970s, when he gave haircuts to similar objects made using human hair sourced from African American barbershops. Hammons often uses recovered materials and references to the body to evoke visual tropes of Black identity.

Acquisition details

This work was acquired for the RISD Museum in 2001 by the previous Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art, Judith Tannenbaum. It was purchased alongside a 1974 work by Hammons-Untitled (Body Print)-that was selected by curator Jan Howard. The acquisition, one of Tannenbaum’s first in her curatorial role at the museum, reflected her interest in Hammons’s career since the mid-1970s. It is especially significant in the context of the limited number of-and extremely high demand for-available works by Hammons, who has become an iconic figure in contemporary art.

-Dominic Molon, Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art

The hair in this work by David Hammons was gathered from the floors of African American barbershops. By presenting Rock Head in this gallery as part of her installation The Chorus, artist Simone Leigh encourages comparisons to other portraits nearby-for example, the head of a man (2289-2246 BCE) in the case to the right-and underscores its timeless simplicity despite its humble materials. By positioning Hammons’s work with her sound installation, Simone Leigh heightens its evocation of African American historical perseverence through the words of sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, writer Saidiya Hartman, and historian Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts.