Glenn Ligon

In 1966 American composer Steve Reich used the tape-recorded voice of Daniel Hamm, one of the Harlem Six who were arrested for the murder of a shopkeeper during the Harlem Riot in 1964, for a piece of music to be played at a benefit for the six young men. The spliced, repeated rhythm of Hamm saying, “I had to, like, open the bruise up, and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them” is achingly condensed in classic Reich minimalism to “come out to show them”. Just like the composer, Ligon has chosen this snippet for his new silkscreen paintings that repeatedly echo those words in layer upon layer of ink.