Barack Obama’s presidency represents America’s progress towards racial equality. Though this progress is a definitive moment in history, race is still an issue in American culture – evident from Glenn Ligon’s artwork. Ligon does not solely address race, but homosexuality and other forms of “outsiderness” (Vogel) as well.
Many of Ligon’s pieces center on text, whether it be neon illuminations or paintings. What I find so interesting about his text work is its origin "on the legacy of writers" (Moran). Though many may dismiss Ligon’s conceptual art as just pretentious wording, it could represent a text Ligon finds symbolic. Discovering the power behind Ligon’s word choice make his work much more understandable from a viewer’s standpoint.
Jason Moran’s interview with Ligon created a very complex picture of his artistic vision for me. In the video posted on the interview, Ligon refers to himself as a “fag”. This label seems a bit backwards since Ligon is trying to emphasize the difficulty of being a “stranger” in society through his work. I also found it very interesting that at first his rendition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was considered a “failure of representation” because of the blurry and unrecognizable images. Then after consideration, Ligon found the piece “in line with [his] larger artistic project” of creating abstraction from what is legible. Ligon’s abstractions serve as carefully (or sometimes un-carefully) planned works in order for the viewer to question the abstraction and its relation to being a stranger in society.
Ligon says he was inspired by Willem de Kooning’s abstract work. The following piece is part of a series of abstractions of women. De Kooning’s work serves as more chaotic in terms of brush stroke and color when compared to Ligon, but I can definitely see the abstract influence.
Really interesting that you picked a picture that served as an influence to Ligon, great idea.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the fact that he called himself a fag. It was shocking at first, but then I realized he was making light of the use of the word. Maybe by calling himself that he is numbing himself for when other people try to use it offensively towards him.
I thought it was really bold of him to end up using all the scrap video footage for the actual movie, rather than the parts that were supposed to be the right ones. The collaboration with Moran just screams brilliance because of how they influenced each other to get to a point where Ligon is happy about the work even thought it was nothing like he expected.
I think that Ligon is uses "fag" he is showing that he is in fact a "stranger". He is trying to use re-appropriation as many people have done. The "N" word has been re-appropriated by many African Americans also. They have taken a word used for hatred towards them and took ownership of it.
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