Body Prints, 1968-1979

David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979 is the first publication devoted solely to the early works on paper in which Hammons used his own body as both drawing tool and printing plate.

The Drawing Center published the 144-page softcover book for its 2021 exhibition of the same name. It reproduces 52 works, 36 in color, made across a decade in which Hammons pressed grease- or margarine-coated skin directly onto paper, dusted the impression with powdered pigment, and combined it with silkscreened text and collaged found objects. This edition carries a revised introduction by Laura Hoptman, written to mark the exhibition's late expansion, when Hammons added rarely seen prints from his own collection.

The book also includes a conversation between curator Linda Goode Bryant and artist Senga Nengudi, and a photo essay by Bruce W. Talamon. Talamon documented Hammons at work in his Los Angeles studio in 1974; Bryant and Nengudi were both close contemporaries of Hammons in the L.A. art scene of the period. Body prints such as Injustice Case (1970) and America the Beautiful (1968) made the body a direct political instrument in Hammons' work. The method runs through the found-object sculpture and public art for which he later became known.