Donate

Tickets

Donate

Inbox: Glenn Ligon

Jan 8–Feb 21, 2016

MoMA

Installation view of Inbox: Glenn Ligon. Shown: Glenn Ligon. Figure. 2001. Set of 50 screenprints, each: 9 × 6″ (22.9 × 15.2 cm). Acquired through the generosity of the Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund and Lonti Ebers. © 2017 Glenn Ligon. Photo: John Wronn
  • MoMA, Floor 1, Museum Lobby Museum Lobby

Since the 1990s, Glenn Ligon has drawn on a mix of art, literature, history, and autobiography as a means of reflecting on the construction of sexual, racial, gender, and personal identity. His work takes many forms, from neon sculptures and video installations to text-based paintings and drawings. Figure comprises 50 self-portraits printed on brightly colored, identically sized sheets of paper. The depictions are evenly split between frontal and rear views, simultaneously revealing and concealing the identity of the sitter. The screenprint process used here allows for variation in the final image depending on how much ink
or pressure is applied during the printing; while the impressions are made from the same two matrices, each looks quite different, suggesting the numerous traits and facets of a single individual.

  • This installation is part of Inbox.
    • Licensing

    If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

    MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

    If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

    Feedback

    This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].