Lot 124
  • 124

GLENN LIGON | No Room (Gold) #31

Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 GBP
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Description

  • Glenn Ligon
  • No Room (Gold) #31
  • signed, titled and dated 2007 on the overlap
  • oil and metallic acrylic on canvas
  • 81.6 by 81.6 cm. 31 1/8  by 31 1/8 in.

Provenance

Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Private Collection
Sotheby's, New York, 14 November 2013, Lot 416
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Condition

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although they fail to fully convey the metallic quality of the paint. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals some light handling marks in places to the extreme overturn edges. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

A sublime example of Glenn Ligon’s iconic appropriation paintings, No Room (Gold) #31 is an electrifying work that exposes the viewer to the profound hope and despair inherent in the struggle for racial equality.  Following the example of other artists who used appropriation to deliver a politically charged messages such as Sherrie Levine and Barbara Kruger, Ligon has distinguished himself through his unique capability to aestheticise the living reality of members of minority groups. The present work is a glowing example of this union of incisive thought with pristine aesthetics. Whilst compositionally similar to Richard Prince’s infamous Jokes series, No Room (Gold) #31 emanates an atmospheric depth that reveals the underlying political forces that diminish the chances of progress. Ligon’s decision to use stencils to inscribe the surface of the canvas is technically and stylistically reminiscent of Jasper Johns’ approach and arrives at a similarly mechanically imperfect écriture.

As the foremost body of work from Glenn Ligon’s career-defining investigations into issues of identity and societal inequality, the text-based paintings stand out through their combinations of monochromatic backgrounds with stencilled quotations pertaining to race, sexuality or self. The artist borrows these from thinkers as diverse as Jean Genet, Gertrude Stein or in the case of the present work, Richard Pryor, an entertainer and commentator on the fight for racial equality. Pryor's writings were a source that Ligon would return to time and again and they are the subject of over one hundred of his paintings. His dark humour, which wrly confronted his audience with the bitter social realities of 20th century America, perfectly echoed Ligon’s artistic ambitions. Appropriating Pryor’s joke decades after its original expression in the year of a heated electoral campaign resulting in the election of the first African-American president, Ligon would demonstrate the persistent relevance of the subject matter. Embracing the topicality of Ligon’s oeuvre and the historical relevance of the series, President Obama and his wife Michelle hung Ligon’s Black Like Me #2, an earlier, conceptually and thematically alike work, in their private suite in the White House.