An artwork is an arrangement of things. The ideal show for me would be if everything touched, literally touched, so that everything would blur together. Glenn Ligon More Quotes by Glenn Ligon More Quotes From Glenn Ligon In writing, something is always left out: it can't be articulated in the space of an essay. Glenn Ligon somethingalwaysspacewriting Rather than say art is art and life is life, I like to say that they're joined and inextricable. Glenn Ligon saylikelifeart I don't know if I would describe myself as a political artist. Glenn Ligon myselfknowpoliticalartist Art points to things. It's a way of giving people not the standard way of looking at the world. Glenn Ligon lookingpeopleworldart I'm interested in when language fails, when it is opaque. Glenn Ligon failsinterestedopaquelanguage I really don't have a clear trajectory at all. Glenn Ligon reallytrajectoryclear If something sticks with me for a long time, it goes into a painting. Glenn Ligon mepaintingtimelong I make art to figure out what I'm thinking, not to tell people what I think. Glenn Ligon thinkpeopleartthinking What I realized is that my interest in literature has more deeply structured my practice than I thought. Glenn Ligon morethoughtliteraturepractice I don't cook, and I don't care to, but Gabrielle Hamilton made me realize that food is about love and connection. And she has had a hell of an interesting life. Glenn Ligon mefoodlovelife It's an artist's job to always have their antennas up. Glenn Ligon jobupalwaysartist A lot of my work is about text taken to the point of abstraction. Glenn Ligon textpointaboutwork I'm a formalist. I'm interested in the history of painting. Glenn Ligon interestedpaintinghistory Obama is the first African-American president, and for some people, that means a great deal, and for some people, it means very little. Glenn Ligon some-peoplesomegreatpeople Literature has been a treacherous site for black Americans because literary production has been so tied with the project of proving our humanity through the act of writing. Glenn Ligon blackliteraturehumanitywriting I'm not an Abstraction Expressionist, but I think dedication to paintings comes from an early interest in that work. Glenn Ligon i-thinkthinkdedicationwork There is an imagined thing called black culture. But culture is a construction. It is learned behavior, not innate. The black American experience is the American experience. Glenn Ligon constructionexperienceblackculture I love Monk's song, 'Just a Gigolo.' It's probably a minor song for him, but whenever I hear a recording of him playing it, I'm mesmerized because Monk clearly loved pop music. He took it very seriously and made an amazing thing out of it. Glenn Ligon lovedmusicsonglove Sol LeWitt had a huge influence on my work because of his use of repetition and his clarity, setting up a system and letting that system go. That's kind of where the text paintings came from. Glenn Ligon gorepetitioninfluencework Artists such as Lorna Simpson, Zoe Leonard, Byron Kim and Stephen Andrews and I are around the same age, and I know them personally. The discussions I have had with them over the years have influenced the work that I have made throughout my career. Glenn Ligon careerknowagework
