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Artist Sold Snowballs for $1 in 1983 and Made People Question the Value of Art

By Emma Taggart on January 14, 2026

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What gives something value, and who gets to decide? This question sits at the heart of David Hammons’ work, an American artist best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and ’80s. One of his most well-known pieces, Bliz-aard Ball Sale (1983), involved Hammons selling snowballs alongside street vendors in Cooper Square in New York City. He laid out a small rug on the pavement, arranged the perfectly spherical snowballs by size, and offered each one for a dollar.

As the snowballs slowly melted, the installation drew attention to impermanence and asked stall visitors to rethink what gives something value. By selling something that wouldn’t last—and pricing all sizes of snowballs at $1—Hammons cleverly criticized consumer culture and the art market at the time.

Throughout the Sunday morning in February, photographer Dawoud Bey documented Hammons’ understated performance and interactions with curious passersby. Amazingly, a few people paid a dollar for a snowball, and some collectors even tried to preserve them, highlighting the strange but lasting impact of the temporary piece.

For decades, Hammons has been using everyday materials and found objects to create art that challenge systems of value, power, and race in America. His work is often playful and deliberately elusive, inviting people to question what art can be, where it belongs, and who it’s really for.

Check out Bey’s photos of Bliz-aard Ball Sale below, and find out more about Hammons’ life and work in the documentary, The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons.