Untitled (Malcolm X) – 2008
Glenn Ligon – American
Acrylic, vinyl based paint, and graphite on paper mounted on fiberboard

Untitled (Malcolm X) is the result of a workshop Glenn Ligon conducted.  He presented children with 1970s-era coloring books that had an agenda — to “normalize images of Black Americans to make them part of history.  But to a 3-year-old, none of that matters,” he recalls.  Eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick on the man once deemed the most dangerous in America by the New York City Police Department may seem transgressive, but the irreverence intrigued Ligon.  He silkscreened the image onto canvas, then faithfully painted the Muslim minister, activist, and black nationalist leader just as the child colored him.

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