"negro sunshine" by Glenn Ligon at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Hanging in the window of the Whitney Museum of American Art is New York conceptual artist Glenn Ligon's piece, "negro sunshine". The title "negro sunshine" was taken from a 1909 novella by Gertrude Stein about a mixed-race woman.  Mr. Ligon has been creating art for more than twenty years. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Sculpture Garden in Washington.  His "Black Like Me #2," was chosen by President and Mrs. Obama for their private quarters at the White House.  Currently on exhibit at the Whitney Museum is the retrospective, "Glenn Ligon: America," which will run through June 5, 2011.  The Whitney retrospective's curator, Scott Rothkopf, says "the decision to call the show, "Glen Ligon: America" was a very conscious one.  Although he emerged amidst a generation of artists who deal with race and sexual identity, his work speaks more broadly - not just to African-Americans or gay Americans, but to all Americans."  According to, Robert Storr, dean of the Yale School of Art, says about Mr. Ligon, "he is a political artist but not a protest artist." (from The New York Times).