Richard Hamilton did not change register: he registered changes. In fact, he simply put into practice whenever he felt like it and quite unexpectedly, what Duchamp called strategy of dichotomy. At the same time, and against all the odds, the English artist knew how necessary it was to trust the sense of smell: a nose, his own, educated through repeated practice—Hamilton understood as the ‘great smeller’—without making a fuss about anything or anyone. This is why he could could bring together a turd and a flower: the whole grace of smells lies in their radical difference and diversity. Hamilton did not change register: he smelled with his eyes and looked with his nose.

Eudald Camps