CONVERSATIONS WITH CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS: GLENN LIGON

Posted by Layla on January 10, 2013 in LECTURES | Leave a comment

JANUARY 10, 2013 @ 7 PM

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, ATLANTA, GA

Glenn Ligon is known for his resonant works that explore issues of race, sexuality, representation, and language. Both as a source of imagery and a means of addressing the politics of representation, he frequently incorporates evocative quotations from culturally charged and historically relevant material. Working in a variety of media, including paint, neon, installation, video, and print, Ligon’s oeuvre surveys America’s cultural legacies and situates them in contemporary life. His work is currently on view in the Fast Forward exhibition and in our permanent-collection modern and contemporary galleries.

American artist Glenn Ligon (b. 1960) is best known for his landmark body of text-based paintings, made since the late 1980s, which draw on the writings and speech of diverse figures including Jean Genet, Zora Neale Hurston, Jesse Jackson, and Richard Pryor. Throughout his career, Ligon has pursued an incisive exploration of American history, literature, and society across a body of work that builds critically on the legacies of modern painting and more recent conceptual art. His subject matter ranges widely from the Million Man March and the aftermath of slavery to 1970s coloring books and the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe—all treated within artworks that are both politically provocative and beautiful to behold.

Courtesy of the High Museum of Art

POSSE PHOTOS: Photo by Lucinda Bunnen

Layla with Glenn Ligon by Lucinda Bunnen