George Condo’s unparalleled approach to figuration has afforded him a singular space in the history of American contemporary art. In the centre of Untitled, an orange woman formed of bone and bead metamorphoses, while in the foreground, tiles spell out the artist’s initials and the date. Pops of luscious colour exaggerates the absurdity of this fantastical dreamscape, reminiscent of Salvador Dalí’s otherworldly canvases. Indeed, Condo’s work is a boisterous amalgamation of art historical styles and influences, drawing from Expressionism, Surrealism, and Cubism, among others. Of his fusions, he notes, ‘I describe what I do as psychological cubism. Picasso painted a violin from four different perspectives at one moment. I do the same with psychological states. Four of them can occur simultaneously. Like glimpsing a bus with one passenger howling over a joke they’re hearing down the phone, someone else asleep, someone else crying – I’ll put them all in one face’ (G. Condo, quoted in S. Jeffries, ‘George Condo: I was delirious. Nearly Died,’ The Guardian, February 10, 2014).
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Condition report
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The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.
The canvas, stretcher and attachments appear to be in generally good condition. There is some canvas draw and irregularities to the stretcher to the lower corners. There is some minor rubbing in places to the left vertical edge. There are a few hairline cracks to the orange passage. There are a few areas to the lower brown passage that show signs of retouching and fluoresce under ultra-violet light. There are no other areas that fluoresce under ultra-violet light. It is our view that the work appears to be in generally good condition. Catalogue illustration: Fairly accurate.