George Condo on What Drives Him to Create Beguiling Portraits: ‘I Want My Paintings to Remember Me’
At this point, George Condo’s pioneering, trippy take on Old Master portraiture and surrealist paintings are bedrock classics. Born in New Hampshire in 1957, he has famously been called the missing link between postwar titans like Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston, and the medium’s contemporary advents like Dana Schutz and Nicole Eisenman. Condo is unparalleled in his ability to mishmash styles, balancing neo-cubism, cartoonish carnivalesque, and the nuanced layers of human consciousness. He’s also a global market force, with collectors clamoring for his art on the primary market and at postwar and contemporary auctions.
This week, during Frieze Week in Los Angeles, Hauser & Wirth debuted its second LA location, this one in West Hollywood, with a major presentation of new works by the artist, all created in 2022. An hour before the show’s private opening, Condo walked ARTnews through his latest exhibition and sat down for an interview to discuss the loyalty he demands from his paintings, what’s left for him to tackle in the art world, and why he makes imaginary portraits in the first place.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read More..
