American artist David Hammons is best known for appropriating highly charged political and cultural symbols to address the experiences of Black Americans, sometimes incorporating mordant humor. In his work Hammons employs a range of media and draws from multiple influences, as evidenced in How Ya Like Me Now?, 1988, a notable work in Glenstone’s collection. This large-scale portrait—painted on sheets of tin—was originally commissioned by the Washington Project for the Arts and depicts the Rev. Jesse Jackson as a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man. At the time, Jackson was running his second campaign for President of the United States. Viewers took issue with this portrayal, and How Ya Like Me Now? was vandalized when first installed in downtown Washington, DC. Hammons subsequently decided to absorb the vandals’ markings as part of the finished work, restaging the installation to include a stanchion of sledgehammers—tools that were used to vandalize the work—and an American flag.

–Tim Butler, from the Glenstone Field Guide