The Cinematheque

In Person: Harold Crooks

“A definitive film about Hammons’s life and art … For [those] who have never heard of Hammons, The Melt Goes on Forever will be a mindblowing discovery; for those who have, it brings together his expansive output over the decades—one project more insanely inspired than the next—in a way that one gallery show could never contain.”

Janet Smith, Stir

The Melt Goes On Forever chronicles the singular career of the elusive Black American art star David Hammons, from Watts rebellion-era ​’60s L.A. to global art world prominence today. Hammons’s category-defying practice—rooted in a deep critique of American society and the elite art world—is in the words of one art critic ​“an invitation to confront the fissures between races” as the artist seeks to go beyond the dominant culture and his own to a new one for the 21st century. Featuring eminent artists, curators, and critics, a rich trove of archival footage, animation, and an evocative soundscape, The Melt is a record of the work of an artist who constantly defies the establishment and remains subversive at every turn. —Official synopsis

Post-screening Q&A with co-director Harold Crooks, moderated by Griffin Art Projects Director Lisa Baldissera and Curatorial Assistant Jefferson Alade.

“The art world’s Thomas Pynchon … The Melt Goes on Forever tracks the revered US artist’s career, without his direct participation, to illuminating effect … Eclectic and evocative … Filled with glimpses of a witty, inventive imagination.”

David D’Arcy, The Art Newspaper