David Hammons: Day’s End

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Origins of Day’s End

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In 1975, artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–78) envisioned a “cathedral of light” in a dilapidated pier shed on the Hudson River. A relic of New York’s historic shipping industry, Pier 52 was part of Manhattan’s deteriorating west side waterfront, which was contemporaneously revived by a thriving local Queer community. Matta-Clark likewise viewed the urban decay as an opportunity. Wielding a blowtorch and a chain saw, he carved into the walls and floors of the abandoned structure. Titled Day’s End (1975), his intervention was illicitly produced and ultimately short-lived, but its impact endured.

Nearly forty years later in the spring of 2014, artist David Hammons (b. 1943) toured the Whitney’s new downtown location, which overlooks the site where Day’s End once stood. Matta-Clark’s intervention, and the pier shed, was demolished in 1975, but memory of it captivated Hammons. In the weeks before the Museum opened its inaugural exhibition in the Meatpacking District, Hammons sketched a metal armature hovering over a body of water and mailed it to the Whitney’s director, Adam D. Weinberg. There was no further explanation other than the brief accompanying text, “Gordon Matta-Clark Monument Pier 52.” It was the beginning of a new Day’s End (2014–21), a ghostly representation of Matta-Clark’s demolished structure, and the start of a plan to revive Gansevoort Peninsula.

  • A sepia photo of a boat docked at a pier
    A sepia photo of a boat docked at a pier

    SS Kronprinz Wilhelm at Pier 52 (detail), c. 1901. Museum of the City of New York, 93.1.1.13637

  • A view of Pier 52 from across the water.
    A view of Pier 52 from across the water.

    Gordon Matta-Clark, Day’s End (Pier 52) (Exterior with Ice), 1975. Color photograph, 1029 × 794 mm. © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A black and white photograph of an industrial building with "BALTIMORE AND OHIO R.R. CO." written on the side, featuring two tall smokestacks extending into the sky and a pedestrian bridge leading to the entrance.
    A black and white photograph of an industrial building with "BALTIMORE AND OHIO R.R. CO." written on the side, featuring two tall smokestacks extending into the sky and a pedestrian bridge leading to the entrance.

    Gordon Matta-Clark, Days End Pier 52.1 (Documentation of the action "Day's End" made in 1975 in New York, United States), 1975, printed 1977. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm) Image: 7 9/16 × 9 7/16 in. (19.2 × 24 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Harold Berg 2017.132. © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A black and white photograph looking down into an industrial interior with a complex network of steel girders and trusses supporting the roof. Sunlight filters through a large, irregularly shaped opening in the roof, casting a bright reflection on the water below. The aged and weathered textures of the metal and the still water surface suggest an abandoned or disused space.
    A black and white photograph looking down into an industrial interior with a complex network of steel girders and trusses supporting the roof. Sunlight filters through a large, irregularly shaped opening in the roof, casting a bright reflection on the water below. The aged and weathered textures of the metal and the still water surface suggest an abandoned or disused space.

    Gordon Matta-Clark, Days End Pier 52.2 (Documentation of the action "Day's End" made in 1975 in New York, United States), 1975, printed 1977. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm) Image: 8 × 7 13/16 in. (20.3 × 19.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Harold Berg 2017.133. © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A cavernous, abandoned structure with exposed metal beams and a monumental, leaf-shaped aperture cut into the far wall and filling the space with sunlight.
    A cavernous, abandoned structure with exposed metal beams and a monumental, leaf-shaped aperture cut into the far wall and filling the space with sunlight.

    Gordon Matta-Clark, Days End Pier 52.3 (Documentation of the action "Day's End" made in 1975 in New York, United States), 1975, printed 1977. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm) Image: 7 × 9 3/4 in. (17.8 × 24.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Harold Berg 2017.134. © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • Sketch of a pier structure labeled "Gordon Matta-Clark Monument Pier 52" on a textured surface.
    Sketch of a pier structure labeled "Gordon Matta-Clark Monument Pier 52" on a textured surface.

    David Hammons, Day's End, 2014. Graphite on paper, sheet: 8 1/2 × 11 in. (21.6 × 27.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 2021.11. © David Hammons

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