Blues and the Abstract Truth

Book excerpt: The title of this book derives from a jazz piece by Oliver Nelson, and the photographs and the rooms pictured are all bathed in an unreal blue. Being surrounded by this blue light, the viewer is taken into artist Hammons's space with subtle intensity. Using the Kunsthalle in Bern to envelop the visitor in shades of blueness, Hammons created a sensual and nocturnal realm. African-American artist Hammons is perhaps best known for his provocative portrait of politician Jesse Jackson transformed into a blonde blue-eyed white man and entitled "How Ya Like Me Now?" He has been the subject of numerous one-man exhibitions including venues such as The New Museum of Contemporary Art, Exit Art, P.S.1 Museum, and Museum of Modern Art San Francisco. In 1993 the Illinois State Museum published In the Hood. Hammons continues to live and work in Harlem.