Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World
Hammer Museum
The much-anticipated first North American retrospective of this compelling, inventive, and complex visual artist, performer, poet, essayist, and activist.
Artist, performer, poet, essayist, and activist Jimmie Durham (b. 1940, Washington, Arkansas) is one of the most compelling, inventive, and multifaceted artists working internationally today. For American audiences, however, he has been an elusive figure. Durham was a significant figure within efforts during the 1980s and 1990s to broaden the canon of art to recognize the work of women and artists of color, while remaining ever cognizant of the marginalization of artists that endeavors such as multiculturalism and categories like “identity politics” engendered.
As a singular and vital voice, both as an artist and as an activist, on such topics as colonization, genocide, exile, statehood, and the politics of subjectivity, Durham brings a crucial perspective to an understanding of the history of American art as well as the importance for American artists to be “citizens of the world” and to participate on an international playing field. The first retrospective of Durham’s work to take place in North America, At the Center of the World reinserts a consideration of his career into present-day discussions about the interplay between the local and the global, the interface between art and activism, and the history of sculpture as a medium tactically and conceptually entwined with everyday life.
Exhibition Dates: Jan. 29–May 7
Gallery Hours: Tuesday—Friday: 11 a.m.—8 p.m., Saturday—Sunday: 11 a.m.—5 p.m.
Venue: Hammer Museum
Price: Free
The Hammer is located at the corner of Westwood and Wilshire boulevards in Westwood Village, three blocks east of the 405 freeway’s Wilshire exit.
Parking is available under the museum.