Smoke Screen

1990-1995

Iron, curtain, wire, cigarettes

266.7 x 147.32 x 67.3 cm (105 x 58 x 26 1/2 in.)

A curtain printed with faded floral motifs hangs from a cast-iron frame. Molded gold ‘arms’ rise out of it and branch out into iron wires holding pieces of crystal and cigarette butts. This improbable construction, both tragic and magical, could be seen as an ephemeral antique oozing poetry and emotion.

David Hammons' Smoke Screen is one of his many paradoxical installations. Often made with found materials, they associate different aesthetics and social and cultural realities. The title contributes to such polysemy since it can be interpreted both literally and figuratively, the expression “smoke screen” referring to dissimulation.

Held in the Pinault Collection, Smoke Screen by David Hammons was first shown in 2006 at the Where Are We Going? exhibition at Palazzo Grassi, in Venice
Exhibitions