Mandala of the B-Bodhisttva II, 2000, 16 x 16'

I thoroughly enjoyed my recent visit to Sanford Biggers’ studio. Not knowing much about his work I went with an open mind and was impressed not only by his articulation about his process but also with the work itself. As I have mentioned before, some studio visits can be awkward because the artist is shy or doesn’t know how to explain why they do what they do. It was obvious to me that Biggers teaches (having previously been an educator myself) because his presentation was organized and extremely informative. Born in LA, he has lived in New York since 2000 with stints at Moorehouse for undergrad, 2 1/2 years in Japan, time in Italy, and in Chicago at The Art Institute for his graduate degree. He also had residencies at PS1 in Queens and The Studio Museum in Harlem. All of these various places have had an impact on his work, and Buddhism and hip-hop culture have clearly been powerful influences. For an installation for PS1 he created Mandala of the B-Bodhisttva II, a mandala made of colored floor tiles, an art historical nod to Carl Andre, which turned into a performance space for breakdancers at the 2000 Battle of the Boroughs competition. After the breakdancing competition the work was placed in PS1 with scuff marks and all in order to show the hip-hop culture that became an important part of the piece. He treated it as an ethnographic object with a utilitarian function. He views art the same way Duchamp did; the artwork itself is only half of the experience, the viewer is the other crucial part of the equation.

Prayer Rug, 2005, colored sand

The next work he showed us was another installation (he considers himself primarily a sculptor and installation artist who also does video and performance-based work). It was a prayer rug made of colored sand which actually faced Mecca and took over 300 hours to create. The sand was loose just like the Tibetan mandalas that monks spend hours making and then sweep away in an instant to show the impermanence of things.

Cheshire, 2007, still from video

In Cheshire from 2007 he videotaped professional black men such as doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. climbing trees in order to just hang out. This was the opposite of how black men had normally been seen in the past in trees–hanging from them, not relaxing in them.

Trees are a recurring theme in the work of Biggers for many reasons–because Buddha found enlightenment there and also because of their association with the lynchings that took place in them. They are filled with meaning.

Bittersweet the Fruit, 2002

The most intense work he showed us was created as a dedication to James Byrd, the black man who was intentionally dragged behind a pickup truck in Jasper, TX in 1998. Biggers created a tree in a gallery that extended from floor to ceiling. It had a monitor in its trunk and earphones that hung from a branch so that when the viewer put them on, it looked like he/she was hanging from the tree. The video playing on the monitor was of a naked black man (Biggers himself) playing hymns on a piano in the middle of nowhere. Biggers felt this man represented the freedom that a black man would normally not have in the south in this situation–a naked black man in the middle of nowhere by a tree had usually been tortured and killed. So while the way I describe it sounds morbid, it is actually a beautiful piece which embraces and celebrates freedom.

Passage, 2009

Passage was made one week before Obama’s inaguration which just happened to be also be Martin Luther King’s birthday. This was my favorite work that Biggers showed us. In the center of a dark room was an oversized bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. A spotlight shone on the bust which Biggers had altered with a beeswax mohawk. This was not terribly noticeable until you looked at the wall behind the bust where a profile in shadow was cast—not of King, however, but of Barack Obama. It was a beautiful work I would have loved to have seen in person.

Biggers explained that he starts with an image or idea and asks how it would best manifest itself in an installation or performance. His work investigates identity, notions of race and gender and is very cerebral and layered. He says he puts so many layers in his works that he “confounds the complexities of race.” In this way the works are not about separate issues but the whole that the multi-layered pieces creates. Viewers tend to focus on the simple aesthetics of the work and not necessarily the singling out of one social or political tone of a work. He hopes that people will ask questions after seeing his work.

Not only does he create installations and sculptures, but all over his studio hang drawings and paintings which are inspirations for his larger works. I fell in love with a Japanese ink painting of Buddha and a smaller sketch of the famous fertility figure from prehistoric times, Venus of Willendorf. These are for sale and are a great way to get work by this wonderful emerging artist for a fraction of the cost of his larger works. I am certain that even bigger and better things are in his future. Check out his website: www.sanfordbiggers.com