Glenn Ligon was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1960. He graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University in 1982 and participated in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program in 1985. His early paintings were largely abstract; he began adding
language to them during the mid-1980s in order to explore questions around race, identity, and history. In the text-based works for which he is best known, Ligon looks to
prominent writers and cultural figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Gertrude Stein, Jean Genet, James Baldwin, and Richard Pryor for source material. In
addition to making paintings, works on paper, and prints, he began creating neons in 2005, incorporating a sculptural component into his practice. His work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1997, 2015), Berlin Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2011, 2019), and Documenta XI (2002). In 2011, the
Whitney Museum of American Art presented AMERICA, a comprehensive midcareer retrospective organized by Scott Rothkopf. Recent painting series include Debris Field
and Static, which see Ligon move increasingly toward abstraction and varying degrees of legibility to reflect on the instability and limits of language in a “post-truth” world. He is also deeply engaged with the work of other artists and undertakes curatorial projects
such as Blue Black at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Saint Louis, Missouri (2017), and Glenn Ligon: All Over the Place at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, England (2024). Ligon lives and works in New York.
language to them during the mid-1980s in order to explore questions around race, identity, and history. In the text-based works for which he is best known, Ligon looks to
prominent writers and cultural figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Gertrude Stein, Jean Genet, James Baldwin, and Richard Pryor for source material. In
addition to making paintings, works on paper, and prints, he began creating neons in 2005, incorporating a sculptural component into his practice. His work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1997, 2015), Berlin Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2011, 2019), and Documenta XI (2002). In 2011, the
Whitney Museum of American Art presented AMERICA, a comprehensive midcareer retrospective organized by Scott Rothkopf. Recent painting series include Debris Field
and Static, which see Ligon move increasingly toward abstraction and varying degrees of legibility to reflect on the instability and limits of language in a “post-truth” world. He is also deeply engaged with the work of other artists and undertakes curatorial projects
such as Blue Black at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Saint Louis, Missouri (2017), and Glenn Ligon: All Over the Place at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, England (2024). Ligon lives and works in New York.