Artshare: Glenn Ligon

http://www.art21.org/artists/glenn-ligon

Glenn Ligon, as a black, gay man living in the United States, most often deals with the concepts of race, sexuality, language, identity, and masculinity. Ligon works primarily with paint, however, he has made many pieces through sculpture, silkscreen, video, neon, and Adobe Flash. Ligon currently lives in New York and continues to make art.

I chose this artist because the issues Ligon grapples with through his art are relevant to what's going on in the world today and what we've been discussing lately as a school in both the Teach-Ins and the Month of Understanding. Glenn Ligon is very good at creating a personal narrative through evocative historical and literary references. He expresses intense emotion, pride, and anxiety through minimalistic pieces and I admire the way he works with texture to present an evocative message.

Hands, 1996

I thought this piece would be interesting to include because of how applicable it is to current events, although made 19 years ago.

Malcom X, 2001

Sun (Version 2) #1, 2001

Rumble Young Man Rumble (Version #2), 1993, in collaboration with Byron Kim

Text from piece: "Everything that the so-called Negro do in America seem to be the best, the greatest. So what's wrong with him saying he is the greatest when everything in America that has been painted and colored white. Like, Jesus is white. Santa Claus is white. Tarzan, King of the Jungle, he's white. miss Universe is white. Miss World is white. When you go to Heaven you walk on a milky white way. Before you go to Heaven you walk on a milky white way. Before you go to Heaven you washed in lamb's blood, he's white as snow, they say. They teach us in T. V. commercials: there's White House Cigars, White Swan Soap, White Cloud Tissue Paper, White Rain Hair Rinse, White Tornado Floor Wax. Everything seems to be white: I'm dreaming of a white Christmas; angel hair is white; angel food cake is white and devil's food cake is dark; and Mary had a little lamb, his fleece was white as snow. So everything the greatest so far has been white and these are just falsehoods of white supremacy. So now that we have a man in America today, Elijah Muhammad, who teaches us that we are the greatest, and it is a fact they cannot prove that we are not the greatest, so I don't see why the need for commotion and the trouble over people are saying that they're the greatest, what's wrong with that? So if you the greatest, you just the greatest until proven wrong." - Muhammad Ali

Four Untitled Etchings, 1992

I'm particularly interested in how this piece was made because of the texture and how it goes from refined to unrefined. This is something I'd like to emulate in my work.