Glenn Ligon's Condition Report is like looking in the mirror and seeing how much you've changed over time. You may not have realized how different you are. 

Put on Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror when you read this. It’ll help set the mood. Condition Report represents something both literal and abstract. The piece is much less an actual work of art than it is a literal condition report. Ligon took his original painting Untitled (I Am A Man) to an art conservator and told him to do what is known as a condition report, which is basically a bunch of notes on the physical condition of a work of art. The conservator then proceeded to jot down everything he saw that represented the decay of the painting: smudges, cracks, spots, you name it. It's otherwise the same painting. Just with its flaws in full view for the world to see. 

The original painting, Untitled (I Am A Man) was created by Ligon twelve years prior using enamel and oil paint. It was a recreation of the 1966 picket signs used by protestors during the Sanitation worker’s strike in Memphis, Tennessee, where two deaths prompted the workers to strike for higher pay and equal treatment. The phrase “I Am A Man” gets straight to the point. They were men, but they weren’t treated like it. And to ignore that meant that you were complicit in their treatment. Ligon captured that same sentiment with his painting, jolting you back to that moment in time.

What’s really interesting about Condition Report is that the actual conditional report sits aside a copy of the original painting. Remember when I said it’s like looking in a mirror? This is what I meant. The older, flawed version of the painting looks back at its original, perfect self. And suddenly, every crack, rub, and fade is that much more prevalent. In a vacuum, you may not notice the wear and tear as much. But side by side, it’s a glaring difference. 

Placing them together is a clever way to convey the passage of time and the natural state of decay in art. But it also suggests another, deeper message that’s brilliant if not grim. With the inspiration of the original painting being rooted in the civil rights movement and the anguish that so many faced in the struggle for equality, conducting a condition report on that moment in time conveys that maybe we haven’t made as much progress as we’d like to believe. The dream has faded, but the fire is still there. And now we can see the where we need to apply more effort if we want to keep that dream alive.