George Condo Paintings

George Condo b. 1957 American American Cancer Acrylic on canvas "I call what I do psychological Cubism.” —George Condo This rare early work by the famed American artist George C...

George Condo Untitled, 1994 Signed and dated on the stretcher Oil on canvas 10 5/8 x 6 1/2 inches Provenance: Maurice Lefebvre-Foinet, Paris Thence by descent, Private Collection, France Christie's, Paris, Intérieurs, September 29, 2010, Lot 198 Private Collection (acquired at the above sale) Phillips, "Desktop: Online Auction", April 15-23, 2020, Lot 33 In the 1980's, George Condo, born in Concord, New Hampshire, arrived in New York, after having been in California, and became close friends with members of Andy Warhol's Factory including Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He collaborated with the heroes of the Beat Generation, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Of this time, it was written: "His work was governed by the reworking of the Old Masters, in a lyric universe in which the human being is decomposed in a multiplicity of non-human beings merged from his own unconsciousness: 'I conceive artistic language as my own natural reactions, a combination of rational and irrational.' " (denoirmont) He worked together successfully with Burroughs, which included a visit to Burroughs in Lawrence, Kansas. Condo said: "We both disintegrated in each other's presence and became a third being." However, each retained their individuality as well with Condo contributing a cartoon aspect to their conceptual sculpture of layered images. Though his work, qualified as a "figurative abstraction", it is quite impossible to determinate a frontier between representation and abstraction, between academic art and avant-garde, between popular imagery and High Art. His female figures are described as ferocious and highly aggressive types and are intended to dispel any sense of submissiveness or timidity. Condo, who remains known primarily for his cartoon-like portraits has also turned to sculpture with works that include jazz themes---monumental stainless steel letters spelling out the names of music legends like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. His sculptural works also include abstract bronzes and 32 busts of invented deities, a group of works inspired by the 9-11 terrorist attacks. George Condo was raised in a family where the father was a math and physics professor. For two years, he attended the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where his father taught, and taking art history classes, became very enamored with Caravaggio and other Old Masters. He later did paintings that he called fake Old Masters, which had elements of abstraction and unique treatment that got the attention of younger artists. While in college, he also played bass guitar with a punk rock group called the Girls, and landed in New York City because of a music "gig". However, in 1981, he moved to Los Angeles, and became friends with Roger Herman, a local artist. Herman's influence led to gallery representation and some sales, but by the mid 1980s, Condo was back in New York, the place he perceived as the center of action, and was offered gallery shows. From that time, his career has been a success underscored by special recognition such as receiving in 1999 the Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the release in 2000 of a feature film titled Condo Paintings, directed by John McNaughton; and a visiting lectureship at Harvard University. He also has stirred big-time controversy such as in England in 2006, when he entered a portrait painting of Queen Elizabeth...