Sanford Biggers on Patching Together the Past, Present, and Future Through Art
The Harlem-based artist Sanford Biggers talks about the influence that musicians such as Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder have had on his art; why he thinks of himself as a “material polyglot”; and why religious and spiritual works including reliquaries, shrines, and “power objects” are the bedrock of his practice.
Time Sensitive · The Slowdown, Spencer Bailey, Sanford Biggers
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Show Notes
To Sanford Biggers, the past, present, and future are intertwined and all part of one big, long now. Over the past three decades, the Harlem-based artist has woven various threads of place and time—in ways not dissimilar to a hip-hop D.J. or a quilter—to create clever, deeply metaphorical, darkly humorous, and often beautiful work across a vast array of mediums, including painting, sculpture, video, photography, music, and performance. Among his standout works are “Oracle” (2021), a 25-foot-tall cast bronze sculpture that combines a Greco-Roman form with an African mask; his “BAM” series (2015) of gunshot statuettes; and his ongoing “Codex” series of quilts, which have, over his past decade of making them, become an especially potent and ritualistic part of his art-making.
On this episode, Biggers talks about the influence that musicians such as Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder have had on his art; why he thinks of himself as a “material polyglot”; and why religious and spiritual works like reliquaries, shrines, and “power objects” are the bedrock of his practice.
Special thanks to our Season 8 sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.
Show notes:
[00:26] Sanford Biggers
[03:55] “Sanford Biggers with Yasi Alipour”
[07:14] “The Playful, Political Art of Sanford Biggers”
[12:34] Moon Medicin
[13:36] Mahalia Jackson
[13:39] Ray Charles
[13:40] Charles Mingus
[13:41] Thelonious Monk
[15:32] Stevie Wonder
[16:06] Prince
[18:00] Dick Gregory
[18:01] Richard Pryor
[18:02] Redd Foxx
[18:47] “BAM” series
[27:17] “re:mancipation”
[29:05] Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture
[30:08] John Biggers
[31:41] “Codeswitch” at the California African American Museum
[33:28] Dr. Leslie King-Hammond
[33:30] Maryland Institute College of Art
[37:47] University High School
[38:23] Morehouse College
[38:33] Art Institute of Chicago
[47:34] Isamu Noguchi
[47:36] Martin Puryear
[49:06] “Lotus”
[50:31] “Orin”
[55:52] “Meet Me on the Equinox”
[55:52] “Back to the Stars”