Money Tree

David Hammons uses humble materials and sharp wit to create artworks that speak to Black experiences. He has long been inspired by makeshift basketball hoops found in black communities. When he created this image of a found hoop for a magazine, he added the caption: “Ready made magic. A basketball hoop fashioned from the rim of a bicycle tire, embedded in a living tree in a Charleston backyard, testifies to the ingenuity of its anonymous maker.” That laudable description is countered by his sarcastic title, Money Tree—an allusion to fabled riches that the construction seems unlikely to yield.