In the words of George Condo: "The humanoid is not a science fiction monster, but a form of representation that uses traditional means to bring a person's inner feelings to the surface".
The mimetic ideal prevalent in art history has led to the creation of an unmanageable number of representations that are "similar" or "comparable" to humans. However, only a few portraits have reached the level of "humanoids" or "golems" that seem to come to life. These include Rembrandt's portraits. But what about a form of modern painting for which the "truth" of the medium (abstraction) replaces a realistic project that would have been rendered obsolete by the invention of photography?
George Condo took up this challenge and developed modern painting in the direction of the "almost human". He got to the root of the problem: he took up Cubism, reversed its intentions and humanized it. He became an advocate of "psychological cubism" and did not want to see the birth of "pure painting" in the deformations painted by Picasso or Braque, but rather a realistic exploration of the human psyche.
George Condo, Rodrigo's wife, 2011, Oil on linen, 137,5 x 122,6 cm, Private collection © 2023 George Condo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Condo thus follows in the footsteps of Fénéon, who advised Picasso to devote himself to caricature during his visit to the studio of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Condo has followed this path and places Cubist deformation on the same level as that of the caricaturists: a unique opportunity to reinvent figuration. In eight sections, the exhibition traces the continuity of an extensive oeuvre that ranges from "space creatures" to Who's Who, from Guido Reni to Bugs Bunny. Using specially created paintings, the exhibition offers an insight into the artist's equally crazy and erudite process of invention in relation to humanoids.
March 31 to October 1, 2023
