Condition Report

2000 - Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)

Glenn Ligon

year born: 1960

gender: male

nationality: American

Glenn Ligon’s diptych, Condition Repor t is comprised of two side-by-side prints. Though simple, each contains a nested stack of historical and self-referential quotations. Both black-and-white prints depict a version of Ligon’s 1988 painting, Untitled (I Am A Man) , which declares the words of the parenthetical in blocky black letters. Ligon’s painting, of course, is itself a reappropriation and, in some ways, a reproduction. Based on the simple, declarative protest signs carried by sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Ligon’s painting recontextualized this now-iconic object as a work of art. While the print on the left of Condition Report directly mirrors Ligon’s 1988 painting, the print on the right of the pair includes marks, scribbles, and hand-written notations around the edges and borders of the image. These additions to the work are the condition report notes of the title, and refer back to the 1988 original—though this time not as it existed as a symbol of a historical event, but as it exists in the present as a rarified art object. Tracing a simple phrase—I AM A MAN—through these iterations as declaration, symbol, object, and surface, Ligon levies questions of representation and race, commodification and history, and the value and preciousness of one’s identity.

American artist Glenn Ligon is well known for his conceptually based works in paint, neon, photography, sculpture, and video. He draws upon American history, literature, and other sources to create works centered on the black American experience. Ligon filters through cultural sources to create compositions that highlight social inequalities, commemorate struggles, and point fingers at hypocrisy. Rendered in neon, through paint, and in other media, Ligon often draws out the words of others—be they the sanitation workers who protested in Memphis, Tennessee, with signs declaring I AM A MAN; or the controversial and confrontational Richard Pryor, whose jokes become electric letters on Ligon’s canvases.

Colors:

© » LARRY'S LIST

Interview: Kansong Art Museum Shines Light on National Pride - via The Korea Times

A couple weeks ago, I met director Chun In-keon of the Kansong Art Museum...

© » HYPERALLERGIC

Arthur Tress Sought the Shadow Side of Photography

Arthur Tress Sought the Shadow Side of Photography Skip to content Arthur Tress, "Boy with Root Hands, New York, New York" from the series The Dream Collector (1971) (all photos Ksenya Gurshtein/ Hyperallergic ) LOS ANGELES — The earliest recorded evidence of humans’ fascination with dreams dates to antiquity, when Heraclitus wrote, “When men dream, each has his own world...

© » KQED

The 20th Annual Puppy Bowl Pits Team Fluff Against Team Ruff — and Everyone Wins

The 2024 Puppy Bowl: Team Fluff, Team Ruff Go Head-to-Head | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer upper waypoint The Do List The 20th Annual Puppy Bowl Pits Team Fluff Against Team Ruff — and Everyone Wins Mark Kennedy, Associated Press Feb 7 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Email Some of the adorable participants in this year's Puppy Bowl...