George Condo
George Condo, born in 1957, is an acclaimed American artist whose work spans various mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. Based in New York City, Condo's career is marked by his innovative approach to art and his deep engagement with music and popular culture.
Condo was born in Concord, New Hampshire, and studied art history and music theory at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His early years were filled with music, particularly guitar playing and composition, while he nurtured a parallel passion for visual arts. After two years at UMass Lowell, Condo moved to Boston, where he took a job at a silk-screen shop and became part of the proto-synth punk band, The Girls. This group included abstract painter Mark Dagley, avant-garde musician Daved Hild, and Robin Amos of Cul de Sac. It was during this time that Condo first met Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1979, setting in motion his move to New York City’s Ludlow Street to fully pursue his artistic ambitions.
George Condo’s career is a testament to his ability to bridge the worlds of high art and popular culture, constantly pushing boundaries in both his artistic practice and collaborations. His distinctive style and philosophical approach have left an indelible mark on the contemporary art world, securing his place as one of the most influential artists of his generation. Through his innovative works like "The Orgy" (2004), "Superman" (2005), and "God" (2007), Condo continues to explore the complexities of human nature, reflecting his signature blend of humor, grotesque imagery, and psychological depth.
Condo’s influence in the art world has been substantial since his early years. His contributions have been recognized by numerous awards, including the prestigious Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999 and the Francis J. Greenburger Award in 2005. Over the years, Condo has lectured at major institutions such as Columbia and Yale Universities, the Guggenheim Museum, and San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. In 2004, he taught a six-month course at Harvard University called "Painting Memory."
Condo's work has been represented by significant galleries since the early stages of his career. He began showing with Sprüth Magers in 1984, Simon Lee in 1998, Skarstedt in 2005, and Xavier Hufkens in 2006. By 2020, he had signed exclusively with Hauser and Wirth and Sprüth Magers. His auction record was set with his painting "Force Field" (2010), which sold for $6.85 million at Christie’s Hong Kong in July 2020.
Artistic style and influence
In the early 1980s, Condo coined the term "Artificial Realism," describing it as the "realistic representation of that which is artificial." His unique style blends traditional European painting with a modern, pop-inspired sensibility. Alongside contemporaries such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, Condo played a pivotal role in reviving painting during the 1980s, a contribution that has influenced generations of artists, including Nigel Cooke, Sean Landers, and John Currin.
Condo’s early exhibitions in New York City were held in East Village galleries from 1981 to 1983. His time working in Andy Warhol’s factory, primarily in the silkscreen production studio, further shaped his artistic development. After a brief period in Los Angeles, where he exhibited at Ulrike Kantor Gallery in 1983, Condo moved to Cologne, Germany, and connected with the avant-garde Mülheimer Freiheit group, which included painters Jiri Georg Dokoupil and Walter Dahn. His first solo European exhibition took place at Monika Sprüth Gallery in 1984.
Condo subsequently spent a decade in Europe, moving to Paris in 1985 and only returning to New York permanently in 1995. During this time, he developed his signature style of ‘artificial realism’ and began exploring sculpture.
Upon returning to New York, Condo became friends with Keith Haring and maintained a close relationship with Basquiat. His significant works from this era, such as "Dancing to Miles" (1985), featured in the 1987 Whitney Biennial and now part of the Broad Foundation's collection in Los Angeles, were created in Haring's East Village studio.
Between 1985 and 1995, Condo split his time between Paris and New York, working in various studios and hotels while continuing to exhibit widely. His collaborations with writers like William S. Burroughs resulted in joint artworks and publications, such as "Ghost of Chance" (1991).
Once back in New York, Condo received significant recognition, including the Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999 and the Francis J. Greenberger Award in 2005. He continued to receive accolades, being honored at the 2013 New York Studio School alongside writer Musa Mayer and poet Bill Berkson, and as BOMB Magazine’s 2018 Anniversary Gala Honoree.
Collaborations
Condo's influence reached beyond the visual arts, impacting contemporary writers such as Salman Rushdie, whose novel Fury (2001) was inspired by Condo’s painting "The Psychoanalytic Puppeteer Losing His Mind" (1994). Additionally, David Means' short story "The Butler’s Lament" was inspired by Condo’s "The Fallen Butler" (2010), which was part of the Mental States exhibition at the New Museum, New York.
His collaborations extended to the world of music, with commissions for album covers including Jack Kerouac's Book of Sketches (2006), Phish’s The Story of the Ghost (1998), and Danny Elfman’s Serenada Schizophrana (2006). Most notably, Condo worked with Kanye West, producing paintings for the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). Condo's provocative cover art for the album, featuring a caricature of West, was censored by iTunes. In 2020, he also collaborated with rapper Travis Scott, creating artwork for the single "Franchise."
Notable exhibitions and collections
Throughout his career, George Condo’s work has been exhibited extensively across the United States and Europe. A key milestone was his mid-career retrospective "Mental States" at the New Museum in 2011, which traveled to institutions such as Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. The exhibition was widely praised by critics, including Holland Cotter of The New York Times, who called it "sensational." Other significant exhibitions include "One Hundred Women" at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg in 2005, "The Lost Civilization" at the Musée Maillol in Paris in 2009, and "George Condo: The Way I Think" at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. in 2017. His work has been acquired by major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum in New York, as well as the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles.
Condo had his first solo show in 1983 at the Ulrike Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles. Since then, he has held numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including the 2023 presentation of "Humanoids" at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco. In 2021, the Long Museum in Shanghai hosted "The Picture Gallery," the largest solo exhibition of his work in Asia. His 2017 retrospective of works on paper, "The Way I Think," traveled internationally from The Phillips Collection to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Condo’s earlier work was featured in "Confrontation" at the Museum Berggruen in Berlin in 2016, where it was exhibited alongside art historical masterpieces by Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse. His portraiture was also the focus of the celebrated "Mental States" exhibition from 2011 to 2012, which traveled from New York to Rotterdam, London, and Frankfurt.
In addition to appearing in solo and group exhibitions, Condo’s work has been honored with inclusion in Biennials in the United States and abroad. In 2019, he participated in the 58th Venice Biennale’s "May You Live In Interesting Times," having previously exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 2013. Other notable biennials include the 13th Biennale de Lyon in 2015, the 10th Gwangju Biennale in 2014, and the 2010 and 1987 Whitney Biennials. His works are part of prestigious public collections around the world, including the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Dakis Joannou Collection Foundation in Athens, Museu d’Art Contemporani in Barcelona, Staedel Museum in Frankfurt, Tate Modern in London, The Broad Collection in Los Angeles, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Selena Mattei
