The Black Leaf 1976

Harmony Hammond made The Black Leaf with paint, but it's the texture that really grabs you, isn't it? It's like she built this thing up, layer by layer. You can almost feel the grit, imagine the weight. There are little glimpses of copper and rust peeking through the black. It is so tactile, so close to something real that you might pick up off the ground, and then it sits there, stubbornly, as a painting. Hammond's work often plays with ideas of touch and physicality. It reminds me a little of Eva Hesse, who was also interested in making objects that were both beautiful and a bit awkward. And, like Hesse, it embraces the messy, the unexpected, and the idea that art doesn’t always have to be clean or perfect.