The Art of George Condo

A few months ago, I walked into a gallery in Soho and a piece of art moved me. It tickled me actually – evoked feelings of happiness, almost making me laugh out loud! It was a George Condo print “Abstract Composition in Blue.” I had never heard of the artist, I was just doing what everyone who has advised me on buying art has told me to do: trust my intuition and go with what I like. Naturally, buying this piece sparked my interest in the artist. I like his work, and perhaps more than the work itself, I like what I perceive to be the essence of his work—how he delves beyond the surface to what lies beneath.

“The portrait is often a picture into the interior of a subject as opposed to the way they might look on the outside–that idea of portraying the interior of a person’s thoughts and the way that they think they look or the way they feel like they look.” There is something beautiful about the awkward, ugly forms he portrays – they are endearing and familiar, and despite their distorted forms, I found I could empathize with them and feel their emotions. As I walked around his Mental States exhibition at The New Museum, I found myself wondering, “Is this how he sees people?” I got the sense of the artist as a curious, sincere and sympathetic soul, seeking to bring beauty, color, humor and humility to our everyday human experience. And after reading this interview in the Huffington Post, it seems I wasn’t too far off.