Sanford Biggers (b. 1970, Los Angeles, CA; lives and works in New York, NY); Lotus; 2007; steel, etched glass, colored LEDs; diam. 7 ft.; installation view of Grains of Emptiness: Buddhism Inspired Contemporary Art at the Rubin Museum (2010–11); image courtesy of the artist.
The lotus rises
magical and majestic
from muck and mire
its reflection at
once talisman and portal
through middle passage
Sanford Biggers was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in New York City. He was awarded the 2017 Rome Prize in Visual Arts. He has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and Brooklyn Museum, among others. His work is an interplay of narrative, perspective, and history that speaks to current social, political, and economic happenings while also examining the contexts that bore them.
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