Full House
Artist
Jane Hammond
(American, born 1950)
Date1992-1993
MediumLithograph with collage
DimensionsImage Size: 49 1/2 × 78 1/2 in. (125.7 × 199.4 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineGift of John Hilberry, 2015
Object numberUAC6400
DescriptionIn 1989, Jane Hammond was invited to print her works at Universal Limited Art Editions (or ULAE); “Full House” was the second work produced in affiliation with the fine art print publisher. The theatrical composition revolves around a house coming apart at the seams, unfolding layer by layer, revealing the tripartite interiority of the drywall dollhouse. Through this accordion-like unveiling the habitable space is revealed to the spectator, unpacked floor by floor like a set of Russian nesting dolls. Delicate cutouts displaying a full array of sideshow acts are seen living together under the home’s disembodied roof. The wild cast of characters is matched by the hodgepodge accoutrements of their communal abode; a small blue pagoda shares the top floor with a sword swallower and fully cloaked figure in a bright yellow burqa. Below, a ballerina balances on the floors edge, positioned between an deranged clown and comically large lamp stand. Each of these oversized representations provide a complication; rendered through the fun-house-like mirror of Hammond, the tenants’ scale would bar their entrance into the structure were it not presented in parts. Circulating about the house are reiterations of the same sideshow acts, joined by a more well rounded cast of motley characters including a crouched, shirtless figure utilizing a dismembered deer as a type of headdress and a ghostly entity who appears to consist solely of a headless torso, her legs the only limbs she was granted. A collection of furniture floats among the cast of performers atop shadowy abstractions of both the human and inanimate items making up this cacophonous scene. This full house explodes onto the whole of the composition, unable to contain its overabundance of outsiders, thrusting the jumbled cast out from its restrictive walls. Each compositional element hangs in suspended animation in this phantasmical, gravity defying scene allowing for exhaustive examinations of these personalities whose role as performer connotes an embrace of their “to-be-looked-at-ness.” In “Full House,” Hammond “shows her mastery with the complex process of layering images(1)” as she composes found illustrations in an amalgamation of individual pieces coming together to visually comment on old-fashioned tropes, breathing new life through freshly printed juxtaposition.
Jane Hammond takes a surrealist approach in many of her works, demonstrating her affections for literature, language, and the compositions of John Cage through her whimsical collages often constructed with found imagery collected from a variety of source material reflecting her many interests. Her aim is to craft pieces “as complicated, inconsistent, varied, multifaceted as you are, as I am, as life is(2).” Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut she studied biology and poetry in addition to visual art at Mount Holyoke College. After graduating in 1972, she went on to obtain M.F.A.s from Arizona State University (1973-74) in ceramics and University of Wisconsin- Madison (1977) in sculpture. Currently, Hammond lives and works in New York City
Written by Kat Goffnett
(1) "Full House." The Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed December 13, 2018. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/131440/full-house.
(2) Wallach, Amei. “To a Painter, Words Are Worth a Thousand Pictures.” New York Times, 13 Oct. 2002, www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/arts/art-architecture-to-a-painter-words-are-worth-a-thousand-pictures.html.
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