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Ligon
Kyle Wuokko
M. Rhoades
Art Ed 367.02
18 April 2007 Art Critique 1 A very amateur, childish looking piece stands out among Ligon’s artwork. Glenn Ligon is known for work confronting issues of race and identity. He often uses very simple plain canvases, but these simple works carry powerful messages. Ligon’s “Malcolm X, Sun, Frederick Douglass, Boy with Bubbles”, (2001) is much more then pages from a children’s coloring book; it is a statement about the innocence of our youth. This series of children’s coloring books proves that racism is not a trait people are born with, but learned. The pages of the coloring books on the gallery wall looked a little out of place. Each 23 x 16 ½ inch page of the coloring book consisted of Malcolm X, the sun, Frederic Douglass, a boy blowing bubbles, and some small buildings. Seventeen identical pages were placed side by side in a horizontally so they were easy to compare to one another. Ligon gave these pages to young children in a Midwestern school and told them to paint them as they saw fit. The children used typical water coloring paints for their work. Since each page was done by a different child, they all turned about very different from one another. Every page consisted of different colors being used on the objects they had to paint in. It was obvious that very young children had created these pieces. Some children hardly colored in the lines while others are perfectly drawn and obviously done by older children. The use of coloring book pages might initially obscure the work’s deeper meaning. Ligon took something as common as children coloring books and used them to prove a valid point on how children racially see one another. The point that Glenn Ligon is trying to portrayal is that children do not judge when it comes to skin color. Any adult would see a black man in a coloring book and instantly color them brown or black because that is what they would feel is politically correct. Adults judge people everyday by their skin color and seeing a black man or white man in a coloring book is no different. Children on the other hand have not been exposed to the racist realties of our world. Many children live in a world where they only see a fellow human that may have blue hair, blond hair, rosy cheeks, or very red lips. They do not yet judge people in negative ways by their appearances. Many of the children colored the black child with blond hair and Malcolm X with many different skin tones. Afros were colored multiple colors as were the skin tones of the kids in the picture. They do not see black people that need to be colored with a certain tone. Instead they see human beings that have endless possibilities on how they may look whether it is white, blue or black. Placing them side by side enables the viewer to realize how differently children think about the objects they are coloring. All the children have different judgments on how they think the objects should look. This presents a powerful impression on adult audiences that can remind them of how they used to view one another. A prevailing message is being shown with these books. Ligon is trying to explain that children are not born to dislike other races in any way whatsoever. Hate is clearly something that is taught or observed and not a born trait after viewing this work. There is definitely still a race problem in our country and Ligon knows this and I believe is trying to say that it is a taught problem; not natural. If it was natural then the children would have certainly colored with the correct colors but instead that was the last thing on their innocent minds. A possible message he could be trying to get across to people is that racism could be stopped with our country’s youth. They are born naturally innocent and unbiased but eventually other people influence them and teach them to hate what is different from themselves. Ligon was able to prove how racism is taught without even saying a word or moving his own paintbrush. It was amazing to me how much could be taught by just giving some Midwest kids pages of a coloring book. Much of Ligon’s artwork deals with racism issues and fighting for black power. This piece is no different and is successful at getting across the commanding message. I found it very clever of him to get his point across in such an artistic manner.
M. Rhoades
Art Ed 367.02
18 April 2007 Art Critique 1 A very amateur, childish looking piece stands out among Ligon’s artwork. Glenn Ligon is known for work confronting issues of race and identity. He often uses very simple plain canvases, but these simple works carry powerful messages. Ligon’s “Malcolm X, Sun, Frederick Douglass, Boy with Bubbles”, (2001) is much more then pages from a children’s coloring book; it is a statement about the innocence of our youth. This series of children’s coloring books proves that racism is not a trait people are born with, but learned. The pages of the coloring books on the gallery wall looked a little out of place. Each 23 x 16 ½ inch page of the coloring book consisted of Malcolm X, the sun, Frederic Douglass, a boy blowing bubbles, and some small buildings. Seventeen identical pages were placed side by side in a horizontally so they were easy to compare to one another. Ligon gave these pages to young children in a Midwestern school and told them to paint them as they saw fit. The children used typical water coloring paints for their work. Since each page was done by a different child, they all turned about very different from one another. Every page consisted of different colors being used on the objects they had to paint in. It was obvious that very young children had created these pieces. Some children hardly colored in the lines while others are perfectly drawn and obviously done by older children. The use of coloring book pages might initially obscure the work’s deeper meaning. Ligon took something as common as children coloring books and used them to prove a valid point on how children racially see one another. The point that Glenn Ligon is trying to portrayal is that children do not judge when it comes to skin color. Any adult would see a black man in a coloring book and instantly color them brown or black because that is what they would feel is politically correct. Adults judge people everyday by their skin color and seeing a black man or white man in a coloring book is no different. Children on the other hand have not been exposed to the racist realties of our world. Many children live in a world where they only see a fellow human that may have blue hair, blond hair, rosy cheeks, or very red lips. They do not yet judge people in negative ways by their appearances. Many of the children colored the black child with blond hair and Malcolm X with many different skin tones. Afros were colored multiple colors as were the skin tones of the kids in the picture. They do not see black people that need to be colored with a certain tone. Instead they see human beings that have endless possibilities on how they may look whether it is white, blue or black. Placing them side by side enables the viewer to realize how differently children think about the objects they are coloring. All the children have different judgments on how they think the objects should look. This presents a powerful impression on adult audiences that can remind them of how they used to view one another. A prevailing message is being shown with these books. Ligon is trying to explain that children are not born to dislike other races in any way whatsoever. Hate is clearly something that is taught or observed and not a born trait after viewing this work. There is definitely still a race problem in our country and Ligon knows this and I believe is trying to say that it is a taught problem; not natural. If it was natural then the children would have certainly colored with the correct colors but instead that was the last thing on their innocent minds. A possible message he could be trying to get across to people is that racism could be stopped with our country’s youth. They are born naturally innocent and unbiased but eventually other people influence them and teach them to hate what is different from themselves. Ligon was able to prove how racism is taught without even saying a word or moving his own paintbrush. It was amazing to me how much could be taught by just giving some Midwest kids pages of a coloring book. Much of Ligon’s artwork deals with racism issues and fighting for black power. This piece is no different and is successful at getting across the commanding message. I found it very clever of him to get his point across in such an artistic manner.
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Latest page update: made by kylewuo37
, May 20 2007, 12:53 PM EDT
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Keyword tags:
(2001)
Boy with Bubbles”
Frederick Douglass
sun
“Malcolm X
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