Metal guru: George Condo’s figurative new works meld sculpture and painting
George Condo is primarily known for distorted figurative paintings, where faces take on strange, abstract features, like two different eyes or asymmetrical mouths. His latest exhibition, ‘George Condo: New Works’, on view at Skarstedt’s Upper East Side location in New York through 24 June, shows another side of Condo.
The artist was exposed to sculpture early on, and a few of his Italian family members were sculptors. ‘I grew up in my grandfather’s house always seeing these sculptures and I always thought they’re no Michelangelo, they’re no Bernini so maybe I’ll stick with painting,’ said Condo. ‘I wouldn’t necessarily want to follow in that direction but in fact I started to think about them and always had them ingrained in my system.’
‘The White House’, 2017
Condo began experimenting with sculpture in the late 1980s, when he would use materials like wood, clay, plaster, paint and found objects to create three-dimensional bronze sculptures that, like his paintings, were both abstract and figurative in form. Then in December 2014, the artist started Origin, a small sculpture composed of long, thin piece wood that he had hand-painted a skin tone, with one blue eye. Then he cut and glued it together. ‘I was thinking Frank Lloyd Wright, constructivist works and a surrealist touch with the eye,’ said Condo.
The exhibition at Skarstedt starts with Origin, before leading into the first gallery, where a triptych of portraits of signature Condo heads, painted in black in front of an abstract composition of colourful squares. Then, upstairs four paintings of anonymous crowds comment on the current state of politics as they surround a bronze sculpture. ‘These have that somewhat fleeting feeling of somebody that is flying by because things change so rapidly in today’s political environment that they have the feeling of something just flying by,’ said Condo.
In the final room, five bronzes touch upon the idea of the ‘simulated found object’, fusing that with actual found objects from his studio. The artist then melded together plywood boxes with layers of plaster, clay and paint to create the sculptures. ‘I sort of dismantled one thing and reconstructed a new one from the same parts,’ said Condo. ‘Metaphorically that had a lot to do with the way the world is today and this kind of dismantling of what everybody is familiar with and it gets reassembled either correctly or incorrectly.’
INFORMATION
‘George Condo: New Works’ is on view until 24 June. For more information, visit the Skarstedt gallery website
ADDRESS
Skarstedt
20 East 79th Street
New York NY 10075
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ann Binlot is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer who covers art, fashion, design, architecture, food, and travel for publications like Wallpaper*, the Wall Street Journal, and Monocle. She is also editor-at-large at Document Journal and Family Style magazines.
-
LEVC’s L380 is a truly magnificent minivan
The London Electric Vehicle Company’s L380, is a magnificent minivan designed for upscale long-distance travel, as the maker of the London Taxi branches out into all-purpose EVs
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Enjoy ocean and jungle bliss at Bespoke Tulum’s residences in Mexico
Bespoke Tulum is an exclusive hospitality complex designed by Muro Rojo Arquitectura on Mexico’s Caribbean coastline
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
In Van Cleef & Arpels’ high jewellery, the archival meets the au courant
Van Cleef & Arpels pays tribute to its rich heritage with a captivating high jewellery collection
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Tony Notarberardino’s Chelsea Hotel Portraits preserve a slice of bygone New York life
‘Tony Notarberardino: Chelsea Hotel Portraits, 1994-2010’, on show at New York’s ACA Galleries, is the photographer’s ode to the storied hotel he calls home and its eclectic clientele
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published