At a lecture, a guy said to me, "You know, when I look at your work, I don't know what I'm looking at, but when I look at a Willem de Kooning painting, I know what that is." I said,… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
Throughout African-American literature, the writer has, in a sense, been burdened by the necessity of pleading the case for the whole race. For example,… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
Race is not something inherent to one's being: One does feel more or less colored, depending on the situation. — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
I think there's an interest right now in the performance aspect of artworks, instead of just hanging things on walls. We're in a moment… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
A key text for me is James Baldwin's essays. And, in particular, his essay Stranger in the Village. It's a text that I've used… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
It's a great idea: to feel the rhythm of something by seeing how it flows on a page. — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
In writing, something is always left out: it can't be articulated in the space of an essay. — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
Willem de Kooning paintings are a language to be learned. When they were first shown, they were ridiculed as being just drips and splatters… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
My mother really didn't come from artists. Her famous quote to me was, "The only artists I've ever heard of are dead." The pottery… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
I switched up so that I could work 12-hour shifts at the firm on the weekends so I could have days free to paint.… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
I graduated from Wesleyan University with a b.a. in art. I was really headed toward an architecture degree, but when I did the requirements… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
One of the interesting things about quoting in an artwork is that there is a repeated confusion about who is speaking - one essentially… — Glenn Ligon Copy Share Image
