Glenn Ligon was born in the Bronx, New York in 1960, where he still lives and works. He belongs to the generation of artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s who are known for their conceptual paintings and photosets that explore aesthetic, social, linguistic and political issues of race, gender and sexuality. He is an advocate of intertextuality and he is also known as one of the originators of the concept of Post-Blackness.
Drawing from his experience as an African-American and homosexual, his work is a sustained meditation on the omnipresence of the past and the representation of oneself in relation to culture and history. He draws inspiration from various sources such as literary texts by James Baldwin, speeches by Martin Luther King and comic artist Richard Pryor. His reflection on artistic creation is also at the heart of his art, both as a conceptual foundation as well as criticism of the society in which we live.
Glenn Ligon’s works have been exhibited in many galleries around the world. In 2011, a major exhibition of Ligon’s work was organised by Scott Rothkopf at the Whitney Museum of American Art and this exhibition travelled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Ligon has also participates in international art projects including the Venice Biennale in 1997 and Documenta 11 in 2002.
