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Lot Essay
“In writing something is always left out; it can't be articulated in the space of an essay. Using letters that bleed and disappear is about getting to that difficulty.” – Glenn Ligon
"Mr. Ligon's use of old-fashioned stencil type links his drawings with the early work of Jasper Johns and Robert Indiana, though his direct address to questions of race and sexuality mark a departure from those models. However forthright their content, though, Mr. Ligon's drawn words have their own mystery. Seen through a haze of charcoal or in raking gallery light, they're hard to read, but their ideas are big." (H. Cotter, "Art in Review: The Evidence of Things Not Seen–Drawings by Glenn Ligon," in New York Times, 18 October 1996).
"Language could address the demolition of black masculinity prevalent within American culture, allowing the black body to be disentangled from the graphic 'scenes of subjection' in which it is continually emplotted." (H. Copeland, "Untitled (Jackpot)", exh. cat., Glenn Ligon–Some Changes, Ontario, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery Harbourfront Centre, p. 124).
"Mr. Ligon's use of old-fashioned stencil type links his drawings with the early work of Jasper Johns and Robert Indiana, though his direct address to questions of race and sexuality mark a departure from those models. However forthright their content, though, Mr. Ligon's drawn words have their own mystery. Seen through a haze of charcoal or in raking gallery light, they're hard to read, but their ideas are big." (H. Cotter, "Art in Review: The Evidence of Things Not Seen–Drawings by Glenn Ligon," in New York Times, 18 October 1996).
"Language could address the demolition of black masculinity prevalent within American culture, allowing the black body to be disentangled from the graphic 'scenes of subjection' in which it is continually emplotted." (H. Copeland, "Untitled (Jackpot)", exh. cat., Glenn Ligon–Some Changes, Ontario, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery Harbourfront Centre, p. 124).