George Condo: Painting Reconfigured

Condo is an artist both serious and playful at the same time (not to mention hugely prolific). This book has a series of excellent essays on the various aspects and themes of Condo's work which reach a high academic standard and are very insightful but which also adopt a very suitable, witty and occasionaly playful style of writing that match the artist's work exceptionally well. It's a pity that more monographs don't achieve this standard of writing: they might then be read more and inform more, without simply sitting on your bookshelf.

good book well pleased,

Great book

Amazing book

great book; super fast delivery to the Netherlands.

A lavish and generously proportioned monograph on the American painter George Condo.A very big hardback volume, this showcases Condo's anarchic, at times surreal, but always figurative work; the book is copiously illustrated with over 300 colour plates of his paintings from every decade of his career, supported by a commentary by Simon Baker and interview statements by the artist.Condo was just coming to prominence at the time of my art school graduation in the late 80s; I was intrigued by his work at the time but was swayed against it by negative reviews in the art press – in retrospect, this was indicative of a world-wide turn by the art establishment against painting in general and figuration in particular, but most of us young painters didn't realise it at the time.This book re-affirms my interest in Condo; some of his work can be crass and repetitive, but he has boldly taken Picasso`s influence directly on board (more than any other artist) and furthered his explorations quite creatively using some of the approaches suggested by the Master's example.I find aspects of his painting to be hugely inventive and inspiring in relation to my own work.This is a large volume and it's slowly been creeping up in price since I got my copy online nearly 2 years ago, but it's worth acquiring if you like Condo or have an interest in figuration and/or the Dadaist approach to painting some of his work represents.