Glenn Ligon is an interesting artist to learn about. Glenn Ligon is an artist from New York that expresses the issues of politics that most people ignore. As the New York Times put it, “Mr. Ligon generally deals with race, gayness or simply what he calls ‘outsiderness’”. Ligon is said to have been gay himself, making it that much more powerful of a statement when he incorporates that style of life in his artwork. Ligon lived a very normal childhood at the time, having a father who worked as a line foreman at General Motors and his mother being a nurse’s maid. Ligon’s parents worked hard so that they could put their children through a good school, which they did. Ligon says that the family didn’t have too much extra money, but if the kids wanted something that was educational in nature, their parents would make it so they get it. When Ligon first realized the power of text he was using it to add content to his abstract paintings. Ligon originally wanted to be an abstract painter. When Ligon realized that “the text was the painting and that everything else was extraneous”, he began emphasizing text more in his artwork. This is what led to his famous “Black Like Me #2”, which is currently at the white house, and “negro sunshine”, as well as his many other race/ sexual orientation driven art pieces. While many people can claim to not appreciate Glenn Ligon because of where he stands on certain political issues, they must all concede to the fact that he has guts to display them for all to see.
I think it is interesting how Ligon wanted to initially be an abstract painter, but certain things drew him to text which he then incorporated into his abstract paintings. I think all artists have a certain intention on what type of work they want to do, but since art is limitless they always end up creating works they never thought of. The fact that artists change and mold themselves into something that feels right makes me think of them as an art piece as well.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that Ligon puts such an emphasis on the literature, yet some of his later work is completely distorted. I feel like it becomes social commentary on how people are going to distort his message either way. So, I agree with you that I can also appreciate the fact that he has the guts to put his message out there, distorted or not, and let us decide how we feel when we look at his art.
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