Born in Chicago, 1960, Jonathan Hammer has had 60 solo exhibitions. He works in painting, paper, photography, unique books, sculpture, ceramics, prints, screens and panels made from marquetry of exotic skins. Hammer has exhibited in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, France, England, Japan, Mexico and the United States, including 10 one person exhibitions in New York (five at Matthew Marks Gallery). Hammer has had solo shows at the Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Derfner Museum, Bronx, and CAB de Burgos, Spain. He has multiple works in the following institutions: MOMA New York; San Francisco MOMA; MOCA, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum (UCLA); Berkeley Art Museum; Whitney Museum, NY; Jumex Collection, Mexico City, among others.
An authority on Zurich Dada, Hammer’s critical writing on the subject was published as “Ball and Hammer”, Yale University Press, 2002. Honors include : Art Matters, NY; Pro Helvetia (the Swiss Arts Council); The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, NY; The Pollock Krasner Foundation, NY; PEW Foundation, Philadelphia; Arp Foundation, Berlin; Artis Foundation, Tel Aviv/NY. Hammer is the founder of the Villa Bergerie artists residency project. Hammer lives and works in Spain.