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Joseph Clark Collection

Glenn Ligon

Born 1960 · Painting, drawing, neon, print and installation

Glenn Ligon (born 1960) is a New York-based American artist whose text-based paintings, drawings and neons explore race, language, sexuality and identity. His work is in the collections of MoMA, the Whitney, Tate and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Work on this site

Glenn Ligon, Study for the White Series, 1995. Dense black text on a light ground, partially obscured and splattered.Study for the White Series, 1995Oilstick on paper

In the collection

About the artist

Glenn Ligon (b. 1960) is one of the most important contemporary American artists working today. Based in New York, Ligon's practice explores race, language, sexuality, history, representation, and identity through painting, drawing, neon, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and installation. His work frequently draws on literature, philosophy, and cultural criticism, using text as both image and political material. (Guggenheim)

Emerging during the late 1980s and early 1990s alongside artists such as Lorna Simpson, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and David Hammons, Ligon became closely associated with a generation of artists interrogating American identity, visibility, and systems of power. His work is held in major international collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate, and the Art Institute of Chicago. (MoMA)

Sources

  1. Guggenheim: Glenn Ligon
  2. MoMA: Glenn Ligon
A room in the Joseph Clark Collection hung salon-style: framed paintings, drawings and photographs cover two white walls, with sculptures on a teak sideboard and a white plinth below.
Installation view of the Joseph Clark Collection, including works by Zhang Enli, Tamsin Relly, Glenn Ligon, Louise Bourgeois, Ray Parker, Phyllida Barlow, Bengt Rosenström, Antonio Tarsis, Hugo Glendinning, Tim A Shaw, France-Lise McGurn, Mia Chaplin, Fabian Peake and Yukako Shibata.

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