An American contemporary artist whose work has adorned one of the most famous buildings in the world is featuring in a new exhibition in England.
Barack Obama had a “text painting” by Glenn Ligon hanging in the White House when he was United States’ president between 2009 and 2017.
Ligon’s work is now being showcased in an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is part of the University of Cambridge.
A museum spokeswoman said Ligon’s art explored the “social, cultural and political constructions of race”.
In 2009, a BBC report told how President Obama and wife Michelle had decorated private rooms and the Oval Office at the White House with a “range of modern and abstract art”.
One piece was a “text painting” by Ligon, which reproduced words from the book Black Like Me – a non-fiction account by a white man who disguised himself as a black man and travelled through the American South.
Nine years ago, The Guardian newspaper described Ligon as “Obama’s favourite artist”.
The museum said Ligon, who is from New York and in his 60s, was one of the “leading contemporary artists working today”.
“Ligon is best known for his text-based paintings which include the words of writers such as James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein and Zora Neale Hurston,” the museum said.
“Through these artworks, he explores the social, cultural and political constructions of race.”
Ligon said his exhibition was a “thread” that wound its way through the museum.
He said in some “moments” he had chosen to “amplify themes of empire, resource extraction and cultural hybridity”.
“Glenn Ligon: All Over The Place” is set to run between 20 September and 2 March.
