Strange Fruit
Modern and Contemporary Art

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Strange Fruit
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
David Hammons
American, born 1943
American, born 1943
Date
1989
Medium
Rubber, wood, concrete, found objects
Accession #
1989.46
Dimensions
Please contact the Museum for more information.
Location
Currently Not on View
Description
Made of lowly, discarded, often ephemeral objects such as hair, empty bottles, and old tires, David Hammons’s art bears the pulsating energy of street life, particularly that of Harlem. The title of this work refers to Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” a song that soberly describes a lynching in the South. The bare, curling branches of this shaky, makeshift tree recall African American hair, a frequent image in Hammons’s art. Its “fruits” consist of political buttons featuring prominent Black leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis—emblems honoring the essential activism of the Black community.
Credit
Purchase with funds from the Lannan FoundationImage Copyright
© David Hammons