‘Come Out #2’, 2014. Photo: Todd-White Art Photography
Installation view. Photo: Valerie Bennett
Installation view. Photo: Valerie Bennett
Installation view. Photo: Valerie Bennett
Untitled (Bruise/Blues), 2014; painted neon; size variable. Courtesy of the Artist and Camden Art Centre, London. Photo: Valerie Bennett.
‘Neon Double America’, 2012. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging Inc.
‘Around 1970 or 1971’, 2007. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging Inc
‘Warm Broad Glow II’, 2011
“Ovr ɖ ōtumnl munʈs, Camdn Ātșentr priznts Glen Lîgon: Cwl n Rspons, ɖ frst xibišn in a YC public gaḷri fr ɖ seḷbretd Americn ātist.
Wn v America’z most dstnĝšt cntmprri ātists, Lîgon (b.1960) hz bn dīpli ingejd wɖ ɖ riten wrd ʈrt hiz c̣rir. Drōñ atnšn t ɖ probḷmz v lanĝj n repṛzentešn, h adresz presñ n čaḷnjñ topics v rês, lanĝj n seẋuaḷti. Hiz wrcs rīcnsidr n rīpriznt Americn histri, ispešli naṛtvz v slevri n sivl rîts, wɖn a cntmprri contxt. Bst nôn fr hiz stenṣld txtbêst pêntñz, h wīvz tgɖr wîdrenjñ inflụnsz fṛm litṛčr, vižl āts n popylr culčr. Ovr ɖ past 10 yirz, Lîgon hz olso bn dedicetd t inteṛgetñ ɖz ʈīmz ʈru hiz pṛlific n astyt raitñ n inṭvyz.
Fr hiz xibišn at Camdn Ātșentr, Lîgon priznts a ny siriz v lj pêntñz bêst on ɖ 1966 seminl têpt-spīč wrc, Cm Ât, bî Miniṃlist cmpozr Stīv Rîš. Cm Ât z drwn fṛm ɖ testiṃni v six blac yɖz arstd fr cmitñ a mrdr jrñ ɖ Hāḷm Rêsrayt v 1964. Nôn az ɖ Hāḷm Six, ɖ cês galṿnîzd sivlrîts activists fr a jeṇrešn, brññ t atnšn ṗlīsbrūtaḷti agnst blac sitiznz. Ecowñ Rîš’z ovrlapñ reṗtišn v wrdz n frezz, Lîgon’z silcscrīn pêntñz ovrle ɖ wrdz t criet slôli šiftñ n riɖmic ifects.
Lîgon z crietñ a ny nionwrc, ẇč drwz on ɖ wrdz v Daňl Ham, wn v ɖ Hāḷm Six, dscrîbñ ɖ ṗlīsbītñz. Nionletrz, sspndd fr vizitrz t wōc amñst, blnc on n of in a sîcl rflctñ Rîš’z wrc. Lîgon’z nionwrcs cntiny hiz intrest in pšñ txt n spīč t ɖ pýnt v abstraẋn. Az wɖ hiz pêntñz, ɖe incurij ɖ vywr t oṣlet btwn rīdñ n lcñ.
A ny multīscrīn vidio wrc yzz fŭtij v cmīdịn Ričd Prayr’z 1982 stand-p pfwmns, Lîv on Sunset Strip. Lîgon hz riōġnîzd n rīfilmd ɖ rcwdd mtirı̣l t emf̣sîz Prayr’z imfatc bodīlanĝj, muvmnt n xprešnz, rmuvñ ātikletd wrdz t fôc̣s on bodīlanĝj n ɖ pfwṃtv dlivri v spīč.”
