Jane Hammond

Jane R. Hammond (born 1950) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. She was influenced by the late composer John Cage. She collaborated with the poet John Ashbery, making 62 paintings based on titles suggested by Ashbery; she also collaborated with the poet Raphael Rubinstein.

Background

Hammond studied poetry and biology at Mount Holyoke College before earning her BA in art in 1972. After studying ceramics at Arizona State University, she received her MFA in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1977, she moved to New York and began compiling images from instructional or scientific manuals, children's books, books on puppetry and magic, as well as charts on alchemy, animals, religion, and phrenology. From this collection she culled 276 images that functioned as her image bank for subject matter.

Early career

In 1989, Hammond received her first one-person exhibition at the New York alternative space, Exit Art. Since 1989, Hammond has exhibited internationally in Spain, Sweden, Italy, and Holland.

In 1989, Hammond was invited by Bill Goldston to print at ULAE. After experimenting with monoprints, she turned to a combination of lithography, silkscreen, intaglio, and collage to achieve the complex layering of her trademark images.

Contemporary work

In 2003, Hammond became the first woman to create the poster for the French Open tennis tournament; her poster became the cover of Tennis Week magazine. Primarily a painter, Hammond also works with photographs, and makes prints. She made prints at [http://www.ulae.com ULAE] (Universal Limited Art Editions) and at [http://www.sharksink.com/ Shark's Ink] . She is represented by (among others) [http://www.galerielelong.com Galerie Lelong] in New York and the [http://gregkucera.com Greg Kucera Gallery] in Seattle.

According to a 2002 article in the "New York Times", “Ms. Hammond [aims] to make paintings 'as complicated, inconsistent, varied, multifaceted as you are, as I am, as life is.... I think my work deals very directly with the time that we live in,' Ms. Hammond said. 'There's a surfeit of information, increasingly bodiless because of the computer, and I bring to this an interest in how meaning is constructed'.... The best metaphor for the method behind her rollicking, erudite, street-smart, angst-ridden, encyclopedic paintings is writing." ["New York Times", October 13, 2002, section 2, p. 35]

The "Times" spoke of Hammond's "predilection for systems. For decades it has been her practice to limit all her paintings to mix-and-match selections from a total of 276 found images." Since this article was written, Hammond has moved in new directions; she no longer limits her painting to a body of found images.Many of her works are based on dreams, such as a recent series of works in which butterflies are laid over maps of various countries. She explains her approach to painting thus:

Painting is a cross between high philosophy and cement work. My biggest way of relating to this concept of time and labor is that it is an entry point for reaching the unconscious. The layers of paint have more to do with duration than texture. I see it as a function of time, like the idea of chanting. Certain things can begin to happen because you're with the painting for long periods of time.

Hammond's work "Fallen" was first displayed at the artist's one-person exhibition at Galerie Lelong in New York in March of 2005. The sculpture was accompanied by a wall text which read, "Each unique handmade leaf is inscribed by the artist with the name of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. The exhibition begins with 1511 leaves." The work was acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2006 and on October 17, 2007 opened on display at the Whitney in a show of recent acquisitions entitled "Two Years." The artist has continued to update the piece. This current exhibition opened with 3786 leaves.

“Jane Hammond: Paper Work” an exhibition which contains all manner of works on paper from 1989 through 2006 is currently traveling until early 2009 with presentations at the Tucson Museum of Art; the Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI (formerly the Elvehjem Museum); the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; the Achenbach Foundation at the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA and the Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI. The show is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Penn State Press and the Mt. Holyoke College Museum, containing essays by Faye Hirsch and Nancy Princenthal and an interview with the artist by Douglas Dreishspoon. The exhibition was organized and first presented by the Mt. Holyoke College Museum of Art (2006). Read more about the exhibition catalogue and purchase it directly at [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0271029811/"Jane Hammond: Paper Work" at Amazon.com]

On August 11, 2007, Hammond's painting "All Souls ("Piedras Negras")" sold for $75,000 at an auction at the [http://andersonranch.org Anderson Ranch Arts Center] in Aspen, Colorado.

External links

* [http://www.janehammondartist.com JaneHammondArtist.com]
* [http://www.galerielelong.com Galerie Lelong] - "For images and biography"
* [http://www.bombsite.com/hammond/hammond.html Bomb Magazine article]
* [http://aperture.org/store/magazine-detail-flash.aspx?ID=682#spreadfour Aperture Magazine article]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182787 ArtForum Magazine]
* [http://www.paceprints.com/artistportfolio/artistportfolio.asp?aID=37 Pace Prints]
* [http://www.uncg.edu/iss/hammondart.html Weatherspoon Art Museum]
* [http://www.sharksink.com Shark's Ink]
* [http://www.gregkucera.com/hammond.htm Greg Kucera Gallery]

Notes