# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Be_DwnBhmHj
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16046185-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/9819c376ad.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-02-09T18:03:04.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

Artists have a variety of methods to make their mark. Every Friday we will share a photograph of an #ArtistInAction. 
Sanford Biggers (b. 1970), is a multimedia artist based in New York whose wide-ranging works of sculpture, performance, paintings and video/film resist straightforward meaning. In his art, Biggers combines elements from different cultures into one cohesive piece to challenge oversimplified ideas about black identity. His diverse body of work has a wide variety of references and influences including Afrofuturism, African ethnography and spirituality, totemism, hip-hop music, Americana, and Buddhism. After completing an artist-residency in Japan, Biggers developed a deep interest in zen buddhism and its ideas have consistently permeated his practice. Interconnectedness is a tenet of the religion, and one that Biggers strongly ascribes to by connecting seemingly disparate cultural references. He has said that he places “no hierarchy on chronology, references or media.” His use of several different subjects challenges the audience in their role as a viewer by dissauding any direct “meaning” and encouraging new connections and rethinking. For his quilt series, Biggers painted over appropriated antebellum quilts in spray and acrylic paint but also used the symbol of the mandala. He used the mandala again as a dance floor for hip-hop dancing. Biggers has said that these unlikely combinations, are “meant to broaden and complicate our read on American history.” He leaves the viewer to reconcile meanings, and in the process, we are forced to abandon simplistic thinking and complicate cultural histories. 
#SanfordBiggers sanfordbiggers 
Image: Eric Helgas for The New Yorker, 2018.

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## Tags

artistinaction, sanfordbiggers

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