Courtesy of The Cinematheque.

The Melt Goes on Forever | The Art & Times of David Hammons | Judy Tully & Harold Crooks | Canada/United States | 2022 | 1h 41min

A chronicle of the elusive Black American art star David Hammons whose category-defying career radically seeks to fuse the dominant culture and his own into a new one for the 21st century.

The Melt Goes On Forever chronicles the singular career of the elusive African-American art star David Hammons from Watts rebellion era ’60s L.A. to global art world prominence today. Hammons’ 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.

“This film blends, seamlessly, the heart and meaning, the art and politics, the understanding of our humanity—the vision unique to David Hammons. We watch this towering genius as he reconstructs our refuse in an empathetic identification usually available only to children and their inescapable honesty.” Walter Mosley, Novelist and Screenwriter

“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

“Rebel genius, David Hammons shows us in this informative doc how his art making has gone way beyond Duchamp with his unique Black American creative perspective.” Fab Five Freddy, Fred Brathwaite

Presented in collaboration with The Cinematheque.

With post-screening in-person Q&A with co-Director Harold Crooks