George Condo

George Condo is a comprehensive monograph on the American artist of the same name. Condo emerged on the dynamic New York art scene in the early 1980s and has since been relentlessly painting, drawing and sculpting. In 2017/18, Louisiana was the setting for the first exhibition in Scandinavia with Condo, who has exhibited all over the world and is represented in the largest museums in the United States.

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Condo's originality lies in his transformation of references and inspirations – both stylistically and substantively – that span the entire canon of Western art history: from his journey through classical Greek sculpture to an unlimited and free exchange space of painterly languages, ranging from Rembrandt and Velázquez to Picasso and Warhol, and a vision for literary and popular culture.

With his 'fake' old masters, reconstructed Manet works, immensely intricate paintings that only appear abstract from a distance, fragmented and multifaceted 'psychological-cubist' portraits, and the orgiastic excesses of butlers, bankers, and priests, Condo has not only invented and expanded a painterly language – but an entire lexicon.

An introductory essay on Condo's complex personality and a chapter on his phenomenal early career are followed by three thematic chapters covering the years from 1984 to the present. The book follows Condo's systematic re-creation of painting techniques and explores the darker sides of his psychological iconography in drawing, painting, sculpture, and writing.

George Condo was created in a collaboration between Condo himself and Simon Baker, curator at the Tate Galleries in London.

Dimensions: H: 31 x W: 26.2 cm, paperback
Pages: 296
Language: English
Author: Simon Baker
Publisher: Thames & Hudson