Image Overview > 13 of 20

Glen Ligon was born in the Bronx, New York. His work includes paintings, drawings (stenciled text), and prints. In the mid-1980s Ligon started to use text in his work, taking paragraphs from well-known writers such as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mary Shelly. (Over the past several years Ligon has also decided to include images such as family snapshots, images from magazines, and old furniture.)

In the Making
In Untitled (How it feels to be colored me…Doubled), Ligon experimented with using plastic stencils and oil crayons to make letters on canvas, paper, or directly on a wall (or a door). He said,  "I started using stencils because they were cheap, durable, and an efficient way of conveying information using paint." ¹ While moving the stencil up and down to make the letters, Ligon found the paint would smear, especially on the bottom. Although at first he was frustrated by these smudges, Ligon soon began to think that these smears didn’t ruin his work, but rather added to it.

• Do you think Ligon’s decision to leave the text smeared is important, or do you think it looks like it’s a mistake?

• Have you ever made a mistake when writing, playing music, or making art that you wound up liking in the end?

Sending a Message
The phrase repeated again and again on this door-sized work, "How it feels to be colored me," is the title of an essay by the writer Zora Neale Hurston. One of Ligon’s interests in playing with words and phrases is to see if their meaning changes with repetition.

• What do you think of Ligon’s decision to use another artist’s, in this case a writer’s, work?

• What do you think about his choice to use this phrase? What does it say to you?

• Try saying or writing a word or phrase fifteen times. Do you think the meaning of the word or phrase changes? Why or why not?

When asked whether or not he considers himself to be a "political artist," Ligon said, "I don’t have any problem with the term if it means you’re doing art about real life and about what’s most important to you." But, Ligon goes on to say he feels the word "political" may be negative and only gives one meaning to a work that has many meanings. "I hope my work is more open ended, more about questioning positions than establishing a single position." ²

• What does the word "political" mean to you?

• Have you ever done anything, said something, or made something you think is political?

1. Phyllis Rosenzweig, Glenn Ligon: to Disembark (Washington, D.C.: Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, 1993).

2. Roberta Smith, "Lack of Location Is My Location," The New York Times, Sunday, June 16, 1991, sec. H, p. 27.