Glenn Ligon, Untitled (America/Me), 2022/2024. Rendering courtesy of the artist and the High Line.
Art Billboard Returns to 18th Street after Nearly 10 Years
The High Line announced plans to present Glenn Ligon’s artwork Untitled (America/Me) on a newly reconstructed billboard adjacent to the High Line at 18th Street near 10th Avenue. On view from September 3 through November 2024, Ligon’s presentation inaugurates this new iteration of a historic billboard that once stood in this same location at the gateway to the gallery district. The billboard at 18th Street, once a remnant of Chelsea’s industrial past, is now solely dedicated to the presentation of art, and artworks will change every two months. The previous billboard featured a rotating series of artwork presented by the High Line from 2010 through 2015, and included works by John Baldessari, Faith Ringgold, and Louise Lawler, among many others.
“We’re very excited to have the platform of the billboard at 18th Street again after nearly a decade,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art. “The billboard format allows the High Line Art program to present large, highly visible two-dimensional artworks in a more responsive time frame than other installations. It’s a giant canvas for artists to present large scale works visible both from the High Line and from the street level. The cutting message of Glenn Ligon’s Untitled (America/Me) finds renewed resonance in the current political moment.”
For the High Line, Ligon presents Untitled (America/Me), a new 25 × 75-foot billboard featuring an altered image of his iconic 2008 neon, Untitled, which stretches 14 feet across and features the word “AMERICA” in neon capital letters that flicker on and off. Made at a critical juncture in United States history, as Barack Obama was set to become the first African American president, the work’s flickering lights allude to both the optimism and ambivalence of the moment. Untitled seems to be struggling to function—just as likely to completely break and shut off as it is to flicker on and stay alight.
In 2022, Ligon revisited Untitled, presenting Untitled (America/Me). For this work, the artist manipulated a photograph of his 2008 neon, drawing thick black X’s over the majority of the letters, leaving only the “M” and “E” visible—spelling the word “ME.” By returning to his earlier work, which at the time served as a reflection on the current state and potential future of America, Ligon effectively checks in with an update. Untitled (America/Me) demonstrates the increasingly complex relationship between the individual and society as experienced in the United States. The celebration of “rugged individualism” is a foundational element of the American ethos, originating with the early exploration of the American Frontier. However, this belief comes at a cost—as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted in his 1968 speech “The Other America”: “…this country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.” Noam Chomsky similarly explored this concern in his 2020 book, Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality. Ligon’s work continues in this critical tradition, highlighting a seemingly self-focused population, driven by a “me first” mentality, and an increasing disregard for community and others.
The artist has worked with the word “America” in several installations. As Ligon says, “Paint is a material. Language is a material. Neon is a material. I’m interested in playing with that word [“America”] as material. So to cross it out, to invert it, to put it upside down or to make it blink off and on obnoxiously is all a way of playing with this word that we think we all know what it means.” Adjacent to the High Line, Untitled (America/Me) will stand over 18th Street near 10th Avenue. From this soaring vantage point, Untitled (America/Me) will encourage reflection and capture the attention of pedestrians at street level and park-goers on the High Line alike.
Throughout his career, Glenn Ligon has pursued an incisive exploration of American history, literature, and society across a body of work that builds critically on the legacies of modern painting and conceptual art. He is best known for his landmark series of highly textured text-based paintings, which draw on the writings and speeches of diverse figures such as James Baldwin, Jean Genet, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman, and Richard Pryor. Ligon’s practice also encompasses photography, print, installation, video, and sculpture, the latter often made of neon lettering affixed to the wall. Both politically provocative and formally rigorous, his work lays bare issues around history, language, and identity.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Glenn Ligon (b. 1960, New York) lives and works in New York. Important solo exhibitions include Glenn Ligon: All Over the Place, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England (2024); Post-Noir, Carre d’Art, Nîmes, France (2022); Call and Response, Camden Arts Centre, London, England (2014); AMERICA, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (traveled nationally) (2011); and Some Changes, The Power Plant Center for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada (traveled internationally) (2005). Select curatorial projects include Grief and Grievance, New Museum, New York, New York (2021); Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri (2017); and Encounters and Collisions, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, England and Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, England (2015). Ligon’s work has been shown in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2015, 1997), Berlin Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2019, 2011), and Documenta XI (2002).
SUPPORT
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and Charina Endowment Fund.
High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams.
ABOUT HIGH LINE ART
Founded in 2009, High Line Art commissions and produces a wide array of artworks on the High Line, including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. Led by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, and presented by the High Line, the art program invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the unique architecture, history, and design of the park, and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape.
For more information on High Line Art, please visit thehighline.org/art.
ABOUT THE HIGH LINE
The High Line is both a nonprofit organization and a public park on the West Side of Manhattan. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, we’re devoted to reimagining public spaces to create connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.
Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through the gardens, view art, experience a performance, enjoy food or beverage, or connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.
Nearly 100% of our annual budget comes through donations. The High Line is owned by the City of New York and we operate under a license agreement with NYC Parks.
For more information, visit thehighline.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
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