[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.88,0:00:12.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Glenn Ligon: Layers of Meaning]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.30,0:00:16.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's lots of levels
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.18,0:00:19.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on which my paintings can be approached.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.49,0:00:21.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One can approach it as simply
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.43,0:00:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an object that has a certain kind of
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.62,0:00:24.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beauty.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.80,0:00:27.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One can approach it as
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.94,0:00:31.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and object that has a text in it
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.04,0:00:34.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that has different levels of legibility.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.36,0:00:40.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If one knows James Baldwin
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.10,0:00:43.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and realizes that the text in my painting
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.35,0:00:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is from an essay that he's written,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.87,0:00:48.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then that opens up the painting--
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.47,0:00:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gives it a different level of meaning.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.90,0:00:58.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The paintings that address
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.80,0:01:00.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The Million Man March"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.02,0:01:03.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were made in the mid-90's,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.12,0:01:06.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a couple of years after Louis Farrakhan,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.46,0:01:08.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the leader of the nation of Islam,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.28,0:01:09.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,organized a march
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.86,0:01:12.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on The Mall in Washington D.C.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.46,0:01:15.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about the visibility and presence
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.71,0:01:18.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of black men in the country,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.39,0:01:20.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I find rather ironic,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.20,0:01:22.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since black people have been in this country
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.03,0:01:23.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since the beginning,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.81,0:01:26.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before there was even a country.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.87,0:01:29.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we feel the need to assert
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.43,0:01:30.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our personhood.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.14,0:01:37.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The irony of this march, perhaps,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.18,0:01:40.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that black women were encouraged
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.41,0:01:43.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to absent themselves from work,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.86,0:01:45.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but not to attend the march
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.76,0:01:48.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as full participants.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.74,0:01:51.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I started to think about making
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.63,0:01:54.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,silkscreen paintings using images of the march,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.48,0:01:57.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this kind of notion of absence
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.10,0:01:59.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or disappearance with women
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.13,0:02:01.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was something I was interested in
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.07,0:02:03.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and something I tried to find
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.70,0:02:06.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the images themselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.73,0:02:10.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like any artwork,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.04,0:02:12.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things become richer if you know more about\Nthem;
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.72,0:02:15.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I don't think that's crucial.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.46,0:02:16.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Someone can walk into a museum
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.66,0:02:19.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not know a single thing about
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.90,0:02:21.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Jackson Pollock painting
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.40,0:02:24.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and still have a reaction to it--
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.03,0:02:26.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,still get something from it.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.48,0:02:27.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing that they get from it
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.82,0:02:30.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may be richer if they know more about it,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.77,0:02:33.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that's like anything. [LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.37,0:02:37.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know? That's about being in the world.