Glenn Ligon (American, b. 1960) has pursued a deep confrontation with American culture throughout his career. Drawing from a variety of sources—the texts of literary greats James Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Pryor’s stand-up comedy, and Steve Reich’s minimalist musical compositions, to name a few—Ligon’s work addresses the failures of representation in the American zeitgeist. He brings important cultural moments and artifacts into a broader, contemporary context. For instance, in Untitled (Bruise/Blues), Ligon draws from the recorded testimony of Daniel Hamm, one of six Black teenagers wrongfully incarcerated during the Harlem riots of 1964. The works take as their point of departure Hamm’s description of the police beatings he endured, even incorporating Hamm’s slip of tongue (bruise vs. blues) in Ligon’s sculptural neon reproduction.

Through multiple works, Ligon demonstrates how a legacy of representation complicates and confounds constructions of race, masculinity, identity and the nation itself. On the Foundation’s second floor, viewers encounter Ligon’s Rückenfigur (2009). The neon installation takes its name from the German art historical term Rückenfigur, which describes landscape painting that includes a figure seen from behind. The word “AMERICA” is illuminated in neon, yet something is off; a closer look reveals the text is facing away from the viewer and into the wall. This directional exclusion seems to remove the viewer from the artwork. In doing so, Rückenfigur suggests a culture and nation that has literally turned its back on its viewers.

About Glenn Ligon
Glenn Ligon received a bachelor of arts from Wesleyan University and attended the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2011, the Whitney held a mid-career retrospective, Glenn Ligon: AMERICA, organized by Scott Rothkopf, that traveled nationally. Ligon’s work has been shown in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2015, 1997), Berlin Biennale (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2019, 2011), and Documenta 11 (2002). His solo exhibition and curatorial project All Over the Place recently concluded at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, England.