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”
