Structure 1950

Curator: Here we have Richard Hamilton’s “Structure.” Editor: It looks like an exploded diagram, all these little bursts and lines. Curator: Right, Hamilton was deeply invested in exploring how images are constructed and how they signify in our consumer culture. This print exemplifies a kind of deconstruction, literally. Editor: The recurring asterisk-like shapes, almost like cartographic symbols or constellations, but broken apart. I see fragmentation, a kind of violence perhaps? Curator: Yes, but consider the labor involved in etching; the careful, deliberate process. Hamilton elevates that usually unseen aspect. Editor: So, we're meant to think about both the final product and the means of production, the artist's hand at work? Curator: Exactly. The work isn't just the end result; it's the whole chain of events, the social relations too, the consumption. Editor: It's all there: the marks, the meaning, the making. Curator: Precisely. It challenges us to reconsider our relationship to visual representation. Editor: I see it now. It is thought-provoking in how it dismantles, really.