The Imaginary Portraits of George Condo
Essay by Ralph Rugoff
Book Design by Pandiscio Co.
folio. pp. 152. profusely illustrated in colour. hardcover. dw. (near fine - back cover bit scuffed). New York: powerHouse Books, [2002].
ISBN-10: 1576871177 / ISBN-13: 9781576871171
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Since the mid-1970s, George Condo has been painting portraits of people inhabiting his imagination. By transposing the techniques of the Italian Renaissance, Spanish Baroque, French Impressionism, Surrealism, 1950s Modernism, and Pop Art, Condo has created an original movement, which he calls Artificial Realism - the realistic representation of that which is artificial. In his first artist's monograph, The Imaginary Portraits of George Condo, the painter showcases an incredible selection of subjects - from Madonnas and Clowns to Metaphysical mannequins and Antipodular Beings - which had previously existed only on the periphery of his consciousness. Condo painted while on the move, and the imaginary characters were made manifest in hotel rooms during his travels throughout Europe. The result is a carnivalesque collection of creatures, the likes of which will most surely surprise, provoke, confuse, and delight.
