Born and raised in the Bronx, Glenn Ligon grew up taking art classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art while learning about identity politics through the racism and discrimination toward homosexuality that he encountered in New York. He combines this formal art education and complex personal history to create emotionally charged works that convey challenging messages. In his 1993 Whitney Biennial contribution, Notes on the Margin of the Black Book (1991–93), for example, Ligon paired images and text to satirically comment on literary and visual representations of the black male body. Whether constructed from neon lights, coal dust, glitter, paint, or photographs, Ligon’s work fluctuates between humor and startling honesty, reminding viewers that intolerance remains ubiquitous.

American, b. 1960, Bronx, New York, based in New York, New York

Dieu Donné,
Archival Exhibition Curated by Jennifer Farrell
Gallery Neptune & Brown,
Blue Chip: Printmaking Masters
Alpha 137 Gallery,
Artists Skates, Plates, Pumpkins & Plaques...plus Shawls, Scarves, Handkerchiefs, Handbags, Jewelry & Clothing
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
East Building Permanent Collection
Bowdoin College Museum of Art,
This Is a Portrait If I Say So: Identity in American Art, 1912 to Today
MCA Chicago,
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now
Tate Liverpool,
Glenn Ligon: Encounters and Collisions
Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York,
America is Hard to See
The FLAG Art Foundation,
personal, political, mysterious
International Print Center, New York,
New York City, NY, United States,

Luhring Augustine at Art Basel 2018
Luhring Augustine at TEFAF New York Spring 2018
Regen Projects at ZⓈONAMACO 2018
Nottingham Contemporary at SUNDAY 2017
Regen Projects at Zsona MACO 2016 The Most Iconic Artists of the 1990s

Go to Glenn Ligon’s Artist Page
Lot 12
Glenn Ligon
Untitled, 2015
Photogravure aquatint on Hahnemule Copperplate Bright White
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