Sanford Biggers on Patching Together the Past, Present, and Future Through Art

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”