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”