There are two boats that were displayed on the ground didn’t mean too much without the story behind it. One boat was orange and blue while the other was completely black. When Glenn was in art class his teacher told him that his boat, represented as the orange and blue one, was ugly. In response to the teacher’s criticism, Glenn repainted the boat all in black. It appeared as if the original boat that was repainted black was on display with a recreated orange and blue boat to make the point. One can only speculate on why Glenn would repaint the boat in black. Perhaps he is mocking the teacher by saying, since you don’t appreciate my artistic inclinations in the colors I choose, I will blot it out of your sight and paint it the most simplistic way that I can. You have refused to see me, an African American - a man of color, as a man with worth, but my art still speaks distinctly even when painted with racism. Glenn Ligon makes art that has to deal with slavery and rights. Ligon has said that he "wants to make language into a physical thing, something that has real weight and force to it." His use of art and language can be somewhat difficult and sometimes impossible to understand in his composition. With some research, one can begin to grasp an understanding of history and what others went though during the more recent tumultuous times of the civil rights movement and the far reaching repercussions of slavery through his work.

A Response Post:
I agree with your idea, maybe Ligon wanted to simply get back at his art teacher for criticizing his artwork. I also had a similar analysis about the blackening of his artwork.

Lily Hsu
Only in America will you be able to see the large range of skin colors Mother Nature has to offer. People of all countries have immigrated to the States for essentially the same reason, a better quality of life. We celebrate diversity; we even have months dedicated to certain groups, such as commemorating Black History month in February. Today many ethnic backgrounds live together in the same neighborhoods. This started during the 1600’s; Native Americans, Europeans and Africans lived in close vicinities. The ancestors of African Americans came as slaves in the colonization of America. One of their descendants is Glenn Ligon. He was born into the 1960’s world of New York City and raised in the Bronx (Williams), during a time when America experienced the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Ligon was able to experience this new freedom as a young black student. His academic performance earned him a scholarship to attend a primarily White private school in Manhattan. Ligon developed an interest in the arts which lead him to earn a Bachelor of Art’s from Wesleyan University in 1982 (Williams). Now he is an artist and his work is displayed around the nation. Glenn Ligon’s exhibit Some Change at the Wexner center focused on many aspects of Ligon’s own life. Ligon’s artwork is a reflection of his own identity as a black man in America. This reflection is especially expressed in two of his untitled (2002) pieces that hung side by side at the Wexner Center.
On the right is the painting black in color, made of coal dust, printing ink, oil stick, glue, acrylic paint, and gesso on canvas. Its surface is entirely black; the writing that covers the entire canvas is hidden by a thick cover of heavy black coal dust. The massive size of the canvas is striking.
To the left, a second painting hangs in sharp contrast. An identical sized gessoed canvas is sparsely, then a little more heavily, covered in text from top to bottom. The white canvas shines through its black text. In both paintings there is no color, only black and white, which creates a powerful contradiction. The two paintings were meticulously placed next to each other to show Ligon’s message about identity. These two canvases represent two worlds Ligon inhabits: the black community and mainstream white America. His message in both worlds are completely illegible, not because his words are not clearly printed on the canvases, but because the surroundings overpower and blur his message.
In the first piece the dark coal dust covers the text, symbolically blackening everything. His skin automatically places him into the black community. The coal dust covers his message, it overpowers him. In the second canvas his message is clearer because the white background accentuates the thick inky black letters. His text represents who Ligon is as a person, what he wants to say to the world but other people won’t let him. In the first painting he is just smothered by blackness. Because of his skin color, others believe he is supposed to act a certain way. Growing up in the projects, being smart, and being gay, many people looked down on him, especially his male peers. Today the number of African American males that enroll into a university is much lower compared to other student groups and their graduation rate with in six years only 35 percent (Alexander). Academically, Ligon disrupts these black male stereotypes. Ligon, as a gay African American male in today’s society, is still someone who is unaccepted, especially in the hip-hop or the professional sport communities. Just this year, John Amaechi became the very first Black male athlete of the NBA to announce his homosexuality to the public through the publishing of his new book (Boykin). Ligon, however, is not an athlete or a rap star. In the painting, Ligon’s message symbolizes who he really is as an artist-a gay, African American male, college educated, contemporary artist who breaks every boundary that the black man stereotype holds. Through the blackening of his text Ligon’s struggle to be himself is apparent on canvas.
As a student, Ligon was submerged into the White community, and learned who he is in relationship to this community, symbolized in his second painting. In school his art teacher told him that his choice in colors was ugly, so he just repainted his art project black. When Ligon tried to be himself to be different, his white teacher would not let him, she put him down. He grew up when African Americans were just being allowed into white schools and many of his white peers and even adults judged him based on his skin color.
In Ligon’s art work there is a deep struggle with diversity. In today’s society although we celebrate diversity, we also stereotype. As a black man, Ligon is assumed to be a certain way. However, Ligon does not define himself as just black or just white, he is part of both communities, and these communities are part of the same country, but still separated, just s Ligon’s two separate canvases, one black and the other white. These divisions created much struggle for those like Ligon, those who do not completely belong to a single culture; those who are different.

Alexander, Bill. “Number of Black Men in College Dwindle.” January 14, 2004 MSNBC.com. April 17, 2007. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3919177/>
Boykin, Keith. “The NBA’s First Gay Player.” February 7, 2007. keithboykin.com April 17, 2007. <http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/02/07/the_nbas_first_1>
Williams, Carla. “Ligon, Glenn” glbq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. August 1, 2002. glbq Inc. April 17, 2007. <http://www.glbtq.com/arts/ligon_g.htnl>