Glenn Ligon: The Power Of Text

The lights go dim as the seats in the auditorium at the High Museuem become filled one by one by anxious guests who are waiting for artist Glenn Ligon to take the stage and explain the brilliance behind his works of art. Shortly after 7:00 p.m. the lights go off, all focus is on the huge projector behind the speaker’s podium and the lecture begins. Ligon takes the stage after a brief introduction to tell the audience exactly what inspired him to create works of art that explore issues of race, sexuality, representation and language. He starts off by thanking the crowd for treading through the thunderous storms to see him speak. He’s cool, calm, and collected, speaking to the audience as if they were old friends who are just playing catch up. In a way, he’s already allowed everyone to see his secrets through his work, so talking about it comes with ease.

As a source of imagery and a means of addressing the politics of representation, Ligon incorporates quotations from culturally charged and historical relevant people such as Richard Pryor and James Baldwin. “I try to make language into a physical thing, something that has real weight and force to it,” he begins. “ I couldn’t figure out how to use text and still be clear.” Being clear should’ve been the least of Ligon’s worries. Something as simple as taking texts from porno magazines and incorporating them within his work easily made his art pack a mean punch. Adding the text, integrated a different content for Ligon, taking his work to the next level. At first the text struggled against the paint, Ligon stated, but once he was able to play with the text and paint in different artistic ways, words became his focus, especially in 1988. Sometimes he took signs like “I AM A MAN” from signs used during the march when MLK Jr. was assassinated. Four little words that when focused became loaded with racial weight.

Ligon continued to experiment with text, becoming completely obsessed with the power behind the words. Using a plain white door, Ligon started to stencil the words of Zora Neale Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me” in black paint. Without cleaning the stencil, Ligon continued to paint the text from Hurston’s work across the white door. The words soon became smeared which added a new dimension to this plain white door.

Ligon didn’t stop there with text. Using excerpts from Richard Pryor’s comedy shows in his works of art in the mid-90’s, the artist tried to address the audience in a different way by incorporating color with his Pryor text. “There are other people saying what I’m saying in a different way,” he stated. “Ever seen Richard Pryor? You can hear his voice and remember how he sounded instead of it just being words.” Critics can never put this artist into a box by saying he has no creativity. Best known for his landmark series of text taken from diverse figures in history, Ligon still manages to pull his subject matters from a wide range of history, from the Million Man March to the aftermath of slavery, from the 1970’s coloring books to the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, all artworks that are politically provocative and beautiful. “Throughout his career, Ligon has pursued an incisive exploration of American history, literature, society across a body of work that build critically on the legacies of modern painting and more recent conceptual art,” stated whitney.org.