Untitled

2007

Plastic

325.1 x 226.1 cm (128 x 89 in.)

A perforated plastic sheet hanging by eyelets reveals the wall behind it. An industrial object, David Hammons' Untitled becomes a canvas given a real, formal value by folds and tears. Half-protecting and half-concealing, the commonplace curtain refers to multiple truths about the real world.

Hammons salvages cast-off materials from the street that are often related to African-American culture and poetically stages them. In 2007, he produced a series of torn plastic bags and tarpaulins, a distant reminder of makeshift tents for the homeless. A disconcerting allegory, the simple curtain of Untitled brings together two worlds that seldom meet: the daily grind of poverty and the walls of the museum.

Hammons' Untitled was first shown by the Pinault Collection in 2015 at the "Slip of the Tongue" exhibition at the Punta della Dogana.
Exhibitions