Negro Sunshine
Tokyo: Rat Hole, 2016.
Condition: Fine
Hardcover in slipcase
120 pp
37.5 x 30 cm
Edition of 1,000 copies
Catalog made for Ligon's 2016 show at Rat Hole Gallery in Tokyo. The exhibition featured several small-scale drawings produced with oil stick and coal dust, which repeat the phrase “negro sunshine,” a fragment of text from Gertude Stein’s 1909 novel “Three Lives.” In both Ligon’s paintings and works on paper, the appropriated text is transformed into abstract compositions, creating a dialogue between visibility and erasure and between the artist’s use of formal elements (such as the monochrome palette, stencil lettering, and repetition of text) and the emotional narrative. In addition, they exemplify Ligon’s interest in the force of language, the multiplicities of meanings across generations, and shifting notions of identity and the self in relation to culture and history. Item #23712
Out of stock
