by Rowan Johnson
SOU Class of 2025, Creative Writing

Wade Guyton, Untitled, 2005, inkjet on linen, courtesy of private collection

Wade Guyton is an artist who breaks traditional molds of definition. He is most widely known for his printed linens, a collection of work where he runs linen canvases through an inkjet printer to create what he calls “paintings.” Every reprint gives a different product because of the imperfect medium of cramming fabric through a printer. The drips and uneven lines are distinctly human and juxtapose the mechanical nature of their creation. With an array of repeating motifs, colors, and shapes, Guyton has created a larger collection that captures the essence of the last two decades while reshaping larger notions of art history. Learn more about his larger collection of work with the link below, and find one of his inkjet prints Untitled in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.

https://www.ignant.com/2019/11/22/the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-compulsive-reproduction-two-decades-in-the-oeuvre-of-wade-guyton/

Glenn Ligon, Stranger #76, 2014, oil stick and gesso on canvas, courtesy of private collection

Author, essayist, poet, and civil rights activist James Baldwin explored themes of race relations in the United States, masculinity, class, and sexuality during a time of civil unrest. His upbringing in Harlem, New York, during the Harlem Renaissance tangled with the religious position of his parents, creating a complex view on these issues. While in the U.S., he worked as a book reviewer. It wasn’t until he moved to Europe on a writing grant that he wrote his first novel, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” The semi-autobiographical text gained attention for its commentary on American society. He went on to write many novels, poems, and essays about his experience as a Queer Black man, one of which was an essay titled “Stranger in the Village” which described his experience in a small Swiss town. Artist Glenn Ligon, a Black conceptual artist, uses this essay as inspiration for his art series Stranger. This collection of work uses the words from the essay and covers them with oil sticks and gesso to obscure them. Ligon asks viewers to push past the alienation of familiar but barely legible language to engage with Baldwin’s work. One of these pieces, Stranger #76, is currently on show at the Schneider Museum of Art's Entry Gallery. Learn more about James Baldwin with the link below, and see Ligon’s work today.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-about-the-author/59/