Glenn Ligon Livres

"In 2000, I had a year long residency at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In addition to creating a solo show of paintings based in children's coloring books, I collaborated with the Givens Collection of African American Literature at the University of Minnesota. I did not have a specific project in mind when approaching their vast holdings, but after a couple of hours of wandering through their stacks and randomly pulling books off the shelves it became clear one could trace a history of black people in the United States simply by examining how we were represented on book covers."--Foreword

Glenn Ligon (b. 1960) is one of the most significant American artists of his generation. Much of his work relates to abstract cxpressionism and minimalist painting, remixing formal characteristics to highlight the cultural and social histories of the time, such as the civil rights movement. This new book brings together artworks and other material Ligon references or work with which he shares certain affinities. The book illustrates works by Ligon and other artists--including Chris Ofili, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Lorna Simpson, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Jasper Johns--accompanied by texts by Ligon, Francesco Manacorda, Alex Farquharson, and Gregg Bordowitz, and an anthology of some 20 texts selected/excerpted by Ligon.

From Bauhaus jewelry and West African textiles to contemporary portraiture and sculpture, this unique exhibition and accompanying full color catalog curated by celebrated fashion designer/curator Duro Olowu (b. 1965) explores the rituals of making that underpin an artists work. Olowu selected material by over 70 artists, including rarely seen works by Anni Albers, Alighiero Boetti, Wangechi Mutu, Alice Neel, Chris Ofili and Irving Penn as well as newer paintings by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye from the 1920s to the present. By setting up unexpected dialogues between historic and contemporary artists working in a myriad of mediatextile, painting, sculpture, photography and collageOlowu reveals a shared preoccupation with themes of gender, race, beauty, sexuality and the body. The volume includes an in-depth conversation between Olowu and Glenn Ligon, and texts by Jennifer Higgie and Shanay Jhaveri, which together highlight the intricate layers of history and place that influence the making of art.