Glenn Ligon

Glenn Ligon works primarily with text, whether stenciled in oil crayon or sculpted in neon. Isolating passages from novels, poems, speeches and even comedy routines, he imbues their words with personal meaning. In his best known works, he transforms text almost beyond legibility, distancing viewers from familiar phrases. Ligon’s work is frequently concerned with African American history and its enduring relevance to contemporary understanding of race, identity and sexuality. Ligon was born in the Bronx, and continues to live and work in New York City. His art appears in many prominent public collections, including those of The Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Tate Modern in London. He has received extensive recognition for his work, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2003, and a United States Artists Fellowship in 2010.