David Hammons
The Holy Bible: Old Testament
HAND/EYE PROJECTS
PO Box 35153
London SE5 6XU, UK
+44 (0) 20 7657 2429
info@handeyeprojects.org
www.handeyeprojects.org
What more appropriate strategy than to use a book on the inventor of the readymade as a readymade?
Stephen Bury, Art Monthly, March 2003, No. 264
Hammons brings his unique insight and wit to bear on what may be the most widely read text in the world, with myriad implications for the way we think about it and about ourselves.
la.flavorpill.net, issue 45, 2004
HAND/EYE PROJECTS are very pleased to present a limited edition artist’s bookwork by David Hammons. The Holy Bible: Old Testament was some seven years in the making, and is the artist’s first published bookwork.
The Holy Bible: Old Testament is an appropriation of Arturo Schwarz’s The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp (softback edition), and has been rebound to resemble a bible – the details of which are as follows:
1002pp, 225 colour plates, soft cover, leather-bound, gilt edged, gold tooling, plus slipcase. Approximately 30 x 24 x 2.5cm in size. Weight 8.6 kilos.
As one of the most significant artists of his generation, with a career spanning over thirty years, David Hammons maintains an elusive and enigmatic presence within the international art world. Whether reflecting on the lived experience of urban life in New York, or the machinations of the contemporary art world, David Hammons’ work is inflected with an acerbic sense of humour, poetry and play. Hammons is known as much for his challenging modus operandi as for his distinctive use of the readymade and performance. His practice treads a thin line between complicity and critique, problematising notions of the artist, race and visibility.
Recent exhibitions featuring David Hammons include: Phat Free (2004), The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; Outside of a Dog: Paperback and other books by artists (2003/2004), Baltic, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Concerto in Black and Blue (2003), Ace Gallery, New York; Antipodes (2002) White Cube, London; Global Fax Festival (2000), Palacio de Cristal, Madrid.
Alternatively, the book can be viewed and ordered at the following organisations:
Printed Matter, Inc., New York: mschumann@printedmatter.org
Walther Koenig Books, London: waltherkoenigbooks@hotmail.com
Florence Loewy Books by Artists, Paris: flo@florenceloewy.com
