Lobby: Ray Hamilton

White Columns is pleased to present a focused display of works on paper by the self-taught artist Ray Hamilton (b. 1919 Columbia, South Carolina, died 1996 Brooklyn, New York.) Little is known about Hamilton’s early life prior to his participation in H.A.I.’s art workshop program in the 1980s. (H.A.I. is a New York non-profit organization that supports artists with mental, physical and developmental disabilities. Originally known as Hospital Audiences Inc., the organization was recently renamed Healing Arts Initiative). The exhibition includes works made both prior to and after Hamilton suffered a debilitating stroke at the age of 71 in 1990. Hamilton’s drawings, which typically incorporate the artist’s name and a declaration of his citizenship were a way for him to observe, record, and organize his daily realities. Sometimes incorporating images of his art materials (brushes, paints etc.) Hamilton’s drawings – particularly those made post-stroke, when he started to rely on his non-dominant hand – often took the form of ‘tracings’ of common objects and were, according to Kerry Schuss, a way of describing ”… whatever was nearby. Obsessively cataloging … repeating and reckoning, he cataloged his life as a way of passing time and bearing witness.” Ray Hamilton’s work was most recently the subject of a two-person exhibition (with Agnes Lux) at Kerry Schuss, New York (2012). (This is White Columns’ fifth collaboration with H.A.I. Previous projects include our presentation of work by H.A.I. affiliated artists at the 2014 Frieze New York art fair, and a solo exhibition of H.A.I. affiliated artist Rocco Fama’s drawings in our Project Room in 2013. For more information about H.A.I. visit: www.hainyc.org)