A bad DJ tears at the original track like carrion, thoughtlessly shredding its structure. It’s typically a failure of imagination or a poor understanding of history. A good remix needs a smart listener: to bring art someplace new, you need to learn where it’s been.
Though no professional musician, Sanford Biggers has compared himself to a DJ. It took some time to get there: over the past two decades, the 53-year-old Los Angeles native has sidestepped classifications of painter, sculptor, seamster, or collagist. He’s not being evasive; just one work can be graphic and sculptural, soft and hard, functional and precious. His best-known pieces begin with an old quilt, mounted on a wall. He teases out its next form, variably laying strips of paint or adding three-dimensional elements, setting scissors to the pattern, extracting and supplementing it with fabric of his own design.
