Grommetype #21 (2017) is one of a series of recent unique prints made by pressing ink on grommetted paper multiple times to create dense surfaces of accumulated, irregular pigment — the ghosted colors underlying the surface of the paper are created by not cleaning the printing plates between presses, creating what Hammond refers to as a “near-monochrome.” Hammond first introduced grommets into her work by incorporating found fabric straps lined with the metal holes in paintings from the beginning of this decade, and subsequently began adding them to fabrics herself. Hammond explains, “Grommets have many references: functionality, the possibility of tying down or connecting… They also literally open up the painting surface, alluding to layers or space below.” She often describes the surfaces of her works as skins, and in this work, the grommets suggest an open-ended allusion to bodily orifices. While in conversation with her most recent wrapped paintings, the Grommetypes are also in a lineage of Hammond’s oil and wax paintings from the 1970s, which were built up with multiple layers of materials to produce a highly textured and sculptural surface.