Glenn Ligon

Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2006

Toronto, The Power Plant; Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum; Pittsburgh, The Andy Warhol Museum; Columbus, Wexner Center for the Arts; Luxembourg, Mudam-Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Glenn Ligon: Some Changes, June 2005 - December 2007, cat. no. 35, n.p., illustrated in color (the present example, incorrect measurements)
Chicago, The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago; Detroit, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; Kansas City, Kansas City Art Institute, Black Is, Black Ain't, April 2008 - October 2009 (the present example)

Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art (and travelling), Glenn Ligon: AMERICA, 2011, fig. 21, p. 45, illustrated in color (the present example) and p. 44 (text) 

This work is in excellent condition. It is wired for US electrical current. Please note the correct edition information: this work is number one of an edition of one plus one Artist's Proof. The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Regen Projects.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"[Ligon's] first neon relief, Warm Broad Glow, consists simply of the words 'negro sunshine' fashioned in letters some sixteen feet across and three feet high. The sign is rendered in old typewriter characters, each one dipped face first in black paint so that the light escapes only from behind, casting a cool fluorescence on the wall on which it hangs, about eight feet from the ground... The work inverts the relationship between light and dark one expects from a lighted sign against a recessive ground; it casts a pall over Stein's nagging phrase, but there remains, as well, a paradoxically effulgent and hopeful penumbra. Of all Ligon's work with text, this piece is perhaps his most distilled and elegant visual rephrasing of borrowed words." (Scott Rothkopf in Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art (and travelling), Glenn Ligon: AMERICA, 2011, pp. 44-45)