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David Hammons Afro Asian Eclipse (or Black China) 1978

  • Not on view

On view for the first time at MoMA, Hammons’s *Afro Asian Eclipse (or Black China)* emphasizes intersections between Afro-Atlantic and Afro-Pacific cultures. The hanging scroll echoes a traditional Japanese scroll painting, but instead of a picture inset within a fabric background, Hammons creates a central panel of wire chicken-coop mesh. This metal grid is interlaced with poured red and pink paint and tufts of hair that the artist collected from the floors of Black barbershops. By enmeshing pigment within geometrically patterned segments of hair, Hammons upends the conventions of painting, sculpture, and textiles all at once. The work’s title nods to jazz musician Duke Ellington’s 1971 album *The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse* and the possibilities of global cultural identity.

Gallery label from Artist’s Choice: Grace Wales Bonner—Spirit Movers, November 18, 2023 – April 07, 2024
Medium
Human hair and paint on wire mesh with thread and paper mounted on fabric scroll
Dimensions
43 × 16" (109.2 × 40.6 cm)
Credit
Gift of the Hudgins Family in honor of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Object number
1338.2016
Copyright
© 2024 David Hammons / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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