Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain; Writings and Interviews

This long-awaited publication gathers three decades of writings and interviews by Glenn Ligon. Since emerging in the late 1980s, Ligon has offered incisive reflections on race, history, sexuality, and culture in America. Drawing on texts by James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, Richard Pryor, and others, he has centered Blackness within the historically white art world. In the early 2000s, Ligon deepened his practice by engaging with peers such as Julie Mehretu, Chris Ofili, and Lorna Simpson, as well as with influential artists like Philip Guston, David Hammons, and Andy Warhol.

Across sixteen essays, Ligon blends sharp insight with personal anecdotes and biographical details, presenting the most comprehensive picture yet of his artistic journey and his ongoing critique of art and politics. Complementing these essays are illuminating interviews with Helga Davis, Thelma Golden, Byron Kim, Hamza Walker, and others, along with a foreword by Thomas (T.) Jean Lax and an afterword by Ligon himself.