June 23, 2007 Through January 31, 2008
At The Fogg Art Museum (more about the Fogg)

Glenn Ligon, Untitled (negro sunshine), 2005. Neon, 13 x 108 x 6.4 cm. Fogg Art Museum, The Jorie Marshall Waterman '96 and Gwendolyn Dunaway Waterman '92 Fund, 2007.98. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

This installation of prints, sculpture, and paintings from the 1970s to the present includes works that are abstract and figurative, contemplative and abrasive, humorous and serious. Of special interest are two recently acquired works by Glenn Ligon, an artist who appropriates imagery from popular culture and concentrates on race, gender, sexuality, and language. In Untitled (Negro Sunshine) (2005), Ligon lifted the phrase “negro sunshine” from Gertrude Stein’s 1909 play Melanctha and transformed it into a neon sculpture. By unhinging the text from both its author and its context, the phrase hangs (literally) in the air, floating in a sea of associations, perplexities, and poetic condensations.

Organized by Helen Molesworth, Maisie K. and James R. Houghton Curator of Contemporary Art.