7 Property from an Important Collection George Condo Follow Collision Course signed and dated 'Condo '09' on the reverse acrylic, charcoal, wax crayon, pastel and paper collage on linen 182.8 x 147.3 cm (71 7/8 x 57 7/8 in.) Executed in 2009.
Provenance Massimo de Carlo, Milan Acquired from the above by the present owner Catalogue Essay Collision Course , George Condo’s surreal and fragmented puzzle of imagery, is characteristic of the artist’s enquiry into the notions of perception. A spliced dreamscape of interlocking silhouettes patently reveals the artist’s ability to fluently work line, form and colour into his celebrated oeuvre. Marrying figuration with abstraction, the present composition is exemplary of Condo’s self-termed style of ‘psychological cubism’. Presenting the onlooker with a psychological depiction, evocative of what the imagination, not the eye, sees, in Collision Course the mental state of each subject is refracted across the composition. Informed by an art historical trajectory, from the Renaissance and the Baroque to Cubism, Surrealism and Pop Art, Condo’s multifarious oeuvre is awash with imagery taken from myriad sources. The present canvas, a stylised patchwork of discrete compartments composed of small images of fragmented body parts, displays the psychological perspective of multiple colliding figures. Evocative of Pablo Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism, where portraits of individuals are limited to planar surfaces and restricted geometric forms, the present work pairs multiple fragmented characters with blocks of colour. Commenting on the influence of art historical masters, Condo notes ‘The only way for me to feel the difference between every other artist and me is to use every artist to become me’ (George Condo quoted in Stuart Jeffries, ‘George Condo: 'I was delirious. Nearly died', The Guardian , 10 February 2014, online). In Collision Course, executed in 2009, the artist expertly dissects the composition into a flurry of fractured planes, the work comprised of underlying and overlapping forms which coalesce in a tangle of visual intrigue. Blurring the light purple ground with white, cloudy washes, Condo segments the canvas with his delineated figures, interwoven in a tapestry of forms. Layering a multitude of mediums, the artist projects his divided configuration into the third-dimension. Snippets of faces and bodies twist and turn, punctuated by visual anchors of yellow and red squares. In the same manner of Piet Mondrian who used flashes, strips and small planes of colour to create depth and dynamism in his black and white banded compositions, Condo absorbs the viewer’s gaze, his painting a cubist prism through which to see his constructed microcosm. Unlike Mondrian’s balanced compositions which provide a meditative realm of reflection, Condo’s dizzying constellations are charged with vital energy. Splicing his image and splitting his protagonist’s faces, Condo’s paintings often bear an uncanny undertone, striking at the heart of our subconscious anxieties. Violently rupturing the canvas with clowns, bared teeth, genitalia and glazed eyes, our eyes rove across the composition, its visual complexities presenting us with flashes of dream-like figures. Through the artist’s evocation of child-like visual references, the present work forces us to tap into our underlying fears and desires, our subconscious dreams and also nightmares. Creating a tension between memory and the present, Condo seeks to destroy the gulf between viewer and object, creating a visual world which provokes underlying reactions. Subverting traditional practice, Condo infrequently depicts real people in his portraits; instead he often portrays characters derived from his imagination. In the present composition, multiple figures collide. Accurately portraying the fantastical extremes of his imagination, Condo’s protagonists nonetheless appear remarkably familiar. Throughout his oeuvre the artist revisits a repertoire of recognisable protagonists, his imaginary butler Jean-Louis, visible at the left edge of the present composition, is accompanied by recurrent relatives and acquaintances. Distorting the familiar figures, Condo leaves the personalities in a state of flux,
7 Property from an Important Collection George Condo Follow Collision Course signed and dated 'Condo '09' on the reverse acrylic, charcoal, wax crayon, pastel and paper collage on linen 182.8 x 147.3 cm (71 7/8 x 57 7/8 in.) Executed in 2009.
Provenance Massimo de Carlo, Milan Acquired from the above by the present owner Catalogue Essay Collision Course , George Condo’s surreal and fragmented puzzle of imagery, is characteristic of the artist’s enquiry into the notions of perception. A spliced dreamscape of interlocking silhouettes patently reveals the artist’s ability to fluently work line, form and colour into his celebrated oeuvre. Marrying figuration with abstraction, the present composition is exemplary of Condo’s self-termed style of ‘psychological cubism’. Presenting the onlooker with a psychological depiction, evocative of what the imagination, not the eye, sees, in Collision Course the mental state of each subject is refracted across the composition. Informed by an art historical trajectory, from the Renaissance and the Baroque to Cubism, Surrealism and Pop Art, Condo’s multifarious oeuvre is awash with imagery taken from myriad sources. The present canvas, a stylised patchwork of discrete compartments composed of small images of fragmented body parts, displays the psychological perspective of multiple colliding figures. Evocative of Pablo Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism, where portraits of individuals are limited to planar surfaces and restricted geometric forms, the present work pairs multiple fragmented characters with blocks of colour. Commenting on the influence of art historical masters, Condo notes ‘The only way for me to feel the difference between every other artist and me is to use every artist to become me’ (George Condo quoted in Stuart Jeffries, ‘George Condo: 'I was delirious. Nearly died', The Guardian , 10 February 2014, online). In Collision Course, executed in 2009, the artist expertly dissects the composition into a flurry of fractured planes, the work comprised of underlying and overlapping forms which coalesce in a tangle of visual intrigue. Blurring the light purple ground with white, cloudy washes, Condo segments the canvas with his delineated figures, interwoven in a tapestry of forms. Layering a multitude of mediums, the artist projects his divided configuration into the third-dimension. Snippets of faces and bodies twist and turn, punctuated by visual anchors of yellow and red squares. In the same manner of Piet Mondrian who used flashes, strips and small planes of colour to create depth and dynamism in his black and white banded compositions, Condo absorbs the viewer’s gaze, his painting a cubist prism through which to see his constructed microcosm. Unlike Mondrian’s balanced compositions which provide a meditative realm of reflection, Condo’s dizzying constellations are charged with vital energy. Splicing his image and splitting his protagonist’s faces, Condo’s paintings often bear an uncanny undertone, striking at the heart of our subconscious anxieties. Violently rupturing the canvas with clowns, bared teeth, genitalia and glazed eyes, our eyes rove across the composition, its visual complexities presenting us with flashes of dream-like figures. Through the artist’s evocation of child-like visual references, the present work forces us to tap into our underlying fears and desires, our subconscious dreams and also nightmares. Creating a tension between memory and the present, Condo seeks to destroy the gulf between viewer and object, creating a visual world which provokes underlying reactions. Subverting traditional practice, Condo infrequently depicts real people in his portraits; instead he often portrays characters derived from his imagination. In the present composition, multiple figures collide. Accurately portraying the fantastical extremes of his imagination, Condo’s protagonists nonetheless appear remarkably familiar. Throughout his oeuvre the artist revisits a repertoire of recognisable protagonists, his imaginary butler Jean-Louis, visible at the left edge of the present composition, is accompanied by recurrent relatives and acquaintances. Distorting the familiar figures, Condo leaves the personalities in a state of flux,
Testen Sie LotSearch und seine Premium-Features 7 Tage - ohne Kosten!
Lassen Sie sich automatisch über neue Objekte in kommenden Auktionen benachrichtigen.
Suchauftrag anlegen
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
