Blue Angels (Penises)
- Artist: David Hammons
- Date: c.1970
- Medium: Pigment on paper
- Dimensions: frame: 298 × 378 × 15 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the "Blue Angels (Penises)" by David Hammons. The piece is a body print created in about 1970. Hammons coated his naked body in cooking fat and pressed it onto paper or card, then dusted the greasy surface with powdered pigment. The resulting image shows three floating phalluses rendered in a striking blue, with the texture of his skin and the negative imprint of pubic hair at the base. The pigment echoes Yves Klein’s International Klein Blue, acknowledging the influence of Klein’s 1960 anthropometry performances. In these early works Hammons acted as author, subject and printing plate all at once, blurring boundaries between performer and artwork. The print was presented as part of the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift in 2023. Its raw, performative energy invites viewers to reconsider the body’s role in contemporary art.
See it in person
Blue Angels (Penises) is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
