David Hammons: Ornette Coleman: Harmolodic Thinker
Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles
May 18 – August 11, 2019
David Hammons’ first exhibition in his native Los Angeles after 45 years was deeply contradictory. On one hand, it lamely gestured at the unequal distribution of power and resources of the neighbourhood in which the massive Hauser & Wirth gallery and its encompassing cultural complex is located. On the other, the exhibition’s decision to let the work speak for itself—that is, to display very few titles or wall captions and no didactic material of any kind—worked surprisingly well, opening up the sprawling retrospective for unexpected encounters and interpretations to spring forth.
Arriving at the afternoon opening, myself and hordes of enthusiastic attendees were met
