Portrait
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Featuring fractured portraits and aggressive imagery, Condo often recontextualizes paintings from the Old Masters, blending their imagery and techniques with aesthetics that echo Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning. The artist explains his work as “I describe what I do as psychological Cubism”.
He studied art history and music theory at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. After meeting Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York at a show, he moved down to New York to pursue a career in art. Since then George Condo has been extensively involved with the investigation and challenging nature of portraiture. He introduced the language of the Old Masters into Contemporary Art and has influenced a younger generation with his artistic philosophy and painterly style. Condo’s first public exhibitions were held in East Village galleries between 1981 and 1983. After briefly working in Andy Warhol’s Factory, Condo moved to Paris in 1985 for a decade.
In 2010, Condo collaborated with the musician Kanye West in producing cover art for his album Twisted Fantasy. The artist has exhibited extensively in both United States and in Europe including exhibitions at The Whitney Museum, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, The Guggenheim, New York, Albright Knox Museum, Buffalo, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany and most recently at the Wrong Gallery at the Tate Modern, London.
Condo currently lives and works in New York. Today, his paintings are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.
Biography
Group ExhibitionsSingle Exhibitions+
BORN
1957
Concord, New Hampshire, US. Lives and works in New York.
EDUCATION
1976/78
Lowell University, Massachusetts.
AWARDS
1999
Receives the Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
2005
Receives the Francis J. Greenberger Award.
Receives the Annual Artist’s Award from ArtsConnection, New York.
Receives the Anderson Ranch National Artist Award.
TEACHING POSITION
2004
Visiting Lecturer on Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
FILM
2000
“Condo Painting,” directed by John McNaughton.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
The Pisces Collection, Donaueschingen, Switzerland.
The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
Citigroup Art Advisory Service Collection
Dakis Joannou Collection Foundation
Doron Sebbag Art Collection, ORS Ltd.
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Ministère de la Culture, Paris, France.
Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain, Ile de France, Paris, France.
Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain.
Norton Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, USA.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
The Judith Rothschild Foundation.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY, USA.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA.
Works
George Condo
Blue head of a woman, 2002
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
132 x 122 cm 52 x 48 in.
George Condo
Stilllife with skull and snowman, 1992
Oil and sand on canvas
58.5 x 142.5 cm
George Condo
Composite Figure #1, 2003
Gilded bronze
115 x 41 x 35.5 cm 45 1/4 x 16 1/5 x 14 in.
George Condo
Birth of Insanity, 2008
Patinated bronze
112 x 46 x 41 cm 44 x 18 x 16 in.
George Condo
Death of Insanity, 2008
Patinated bronze
89 x 122 x 61 cm 35 x 48 x 24 in.
George Condo
Triumph of Insanity, 2008
Patinated bronze
142 x 56 x 53.5 cm 56 x 22 x 21 in.
George Condo
Madame Voltaire, 2005
Polished bronze
64.8 x 44.5 x 35.6 cm 25 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 14 in.
George Condo
The American Renaissance, 1999
Silkscreen on canvas
91.5 x 114.5 cm 36 x 45 1/8 in.
George Condo
Blue Waternymph Medallion, 2002
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
132 x 122 cm 52 x 48 in.
George Condo
Bird, 2002
Polished stainless steel
106.5 x 391 x 38 cm 42 x 154 x 15 in.
George Condo
The Gate, 2002
Painted aluminium (2 parts)
143.5 x 93.5 x 11 cm (each part) 56 1/2 x 36 3/4 x 4 3/8 in. (each part)
George Condo
Space Ship, 2002
Painted aluminium
180.5 x 122 x 45 cm 71 1/8 x 48 x 17 3/4 in.
George Condo
Gil Evans, 2002
Auto incralac paint on aluminium
132.5 x 146.5 x 5.5 cm 52 1/8 x 57 5/8 x 2 1/8 in.
George Condo
One armed bandit, 2002
Painted aluminium
215 x 48 x 6.5 cm 84 5/8 x 18 7/8 x 2 1/2 in.
George Condo
Young Warrior, 2002
Gilded bronze
22.5 x 17.5 x 20.5 cm 8 7/8 x 6 7/8 x 8 1/8 in.
George Condo
The Old Sea Hag, 2002
Patinated bronze
27 x 16 x 20.5 cm 10 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.
George Condo
The Farmer's Wife , 2005
Polished bronze
22.9 x 17.8 cm
George Condo
Miles Davis , 2002
Polished stainless steel
240 x 472.5 x 38 cm 94 x 186 x 15 in. weights 600 kilos
George Condo
The Pompeian Woman, 2002
Patinated bronze
24 x 17.5 x 19 cm 9 1/2 x 6 9/10 x 7 1/2 in.
George Condo
The Lawyer, 2002
Patinated bronze
20.5 x 17 x 19.5 cm 8 x 6 2/3 x 7 2/3 in.
George Condo
Big Red, 2002
Patinated bronze
11 x 10.5 x 8 cm 4 1/3 x 4 1/5 x 3 1/5 in.
George Condo
Becoming, 2008
Patinated bronze
51 x 33 x 35.5 cm
