Best Buy Aperture: Source Material: Glenn Ligon at the Walker

What happens when an artist’s mastery intertwines with a child’s imagination? Conceptual painter, sculptor, and filmmaker Glenn Ligon spent his yearlong Walker residency (1999–2000) engaging directly with children and community groups in the Twin Cities.

“I didn’t color when I was a kid; I copied,” recalls the Bronx, New York native. “I felt much more comfortable drawing objects that were in front of me, or doing drawings based on images from newspapers or comic books.” Motivated by this memory, he provided local children with vintage coloring book illustrations. With their joyful, authentic, and uninhibited images as source material, Ligon produced Coloring, his now iconic series of paintings.

The ephemera and art displayed here include a curated book selection, original drawings, photographs, and artist-designed buttons. Together, they track Ligon’s research and inspiration, document the process he used to create new works, and provide insight into other projects he executed at the Walker.

Changing installations in the Best Buy Aperture highlight materials from the Walker Collections and Archives & Library.