I Dig the Way This Dude Looks
1971
Pigment on paper
89.5 x 59.1 cm
An African-American body caricatured and dressed in the American flag, I Dig The Way This Dude Looks is the result of applying pigments to paper. Painted to look like an X-ray picture, the body's shadows and reliefs are nevertheless strikingly realistic: this effect results from Hammons using his own body, which he paints and prints directly on the surface.
An early work by Hammons, this painting already combines two of the motifs he favoured throughout his career: his own body and the American flag. He revisited the latter several times, notably in his iconic African-American Flag, dating from 1995.
Merging Old Glory and a body with strong African-American attributes, Hammons' I Dig The Way This Dude Looks eloquently addresses the challenges of African-American integration in the United States. This work in the Pinault Collection was first exhibited in 2007 at the "Sequence 1" show at the Palazzo Grassi.
An early work by Hammons, this painting already combines two of the motifs he favoured throughout his career: his own body and the American flag. He revisited the latter several times, notably in his iconic African-American Flag, dating from 1995.
Merging Old Glory and a body with strong African-American attributes, Hammons' I Dig The Way This Dude Looks eloquently addresses the challenges of African-American integration in the United States. This work in the Pinault Collection was first exhibited in 2007 at the "Sequence 1" show at the Palazzo Grassi.
Exhibitions
