David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois. In 1963, he moved to Los Angeles to study art. At the Otis Art Institute, he took classes with artist and activist Charles White, whose work and approach to art-making inspired Hammons. In 1968, Hammons graduated from Chouinard Art Institute. Hammons moved to New York in 1974, where he began making his characteristic large-scale sculptures using found objects and materials that highlight the Black urban experience. Hammons’ work is featured in the permanent collections of many museums and galleries around the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and in Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; SMAK, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Ghent, Belgium; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris, France; Francois Pinault Foundation in Venice, Italy; and Tate Britain in London, UK.