FOUR DECADES AGO, WHILE DAVID HAMMONS was working in his Los Angeles studio making body prints and assemblages, and developing ideas for installations and performances, Bruce W. Talamon was nearby photographing every moment. He says the two met in 1974. Hammons had already gained some recognition. In 1971, 12 of his body prints appeared in “Three Graphic Artists,” a Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition that also featured Charles White, his drawing instructor at the Otis Art Institute. Part of a group of pioneering artists and jazz musicians ensconced in LA’s black arts scene, Hammons soon began transitioning to New York where the urban surround bolstered his concepts and performances. From left, David Hammons and Bruce Talamon in front of Hammons’s La Salle Street studio in Los Angeles in 1977. Talamon describes the image as a sort of “self portrait.” He says, “I had set up one of my Nikon’s with a motor drive and remote firing button. David is pushing the remote release button to snap the photo.” | Pboto by Bruce W. Talamon, Courtesy Bruce W. Talamon Talamon was photographing R&B artists and fast becoming a fixture on the local jazz circuit. Over the years, he photographed […]
↧