"The figure is somehow the content and the non-content, the absolute collision of styles and the interruption of one direction by another, almost like channels being changed on the television set before you ever see what is on. All this adds up to one image, and most of the t.mes , that image is a woman."
George Condo’s The Alpine Waitress from 2006 stands as a definitive work from his acclaimed series Existential Portraits, embodying both his radical approach to contemporary portraiture and subject-hood as well as his enduring engagement with ‘artificial realism’. The series as a whole endeavored to probe the depths of the human psyche by depicting fantastically hybrid figures which both materialize and heighten the tensions and contradictions between outward appearance and the internal self. Drawing on classical portraiture, cubist principles, and contemporary abstraction, Condo’s distinctive approach to figuration presents a rich crossbreed of diverse art historical influences and popular culture references. This synthesis innovates the depiction of the complexities of the human form as well as highlights Condo’s unique ability to weave a resplendent tapestry of tradition and imaginative distortion into his cohesive, compelling, and above all, immediately recognizable visual language.
The Alpine Waitress presents a singular figure that, while bifurcated, retains a strikingly cohesive and harmonious identity within her twin-profile. The intriguing interplay of duality and togetherness examines the multifaceted nature of the human condition, as well as the intricacies of character and form. Despite the fragmented and schizoid-esque construction of her figure, she projects an undeniable human-quality, her face offering an immediate and emphatic address as she openly acknowledges and engages with her observer. Her visage appears almost seamlessly grafted on top of her elongated, rectangular neck, which extends preposterously and abruptly from her broad, rotund shoulders and full bust, amplifying the contrast between her soft classical roundness and severe cubist geometry. Her luxuriant curls and cavernous expanse of red lips swell towards the viewer and exaggerate her facial misalignment, submerging the onlooker into an unnerving and comic realm where humor, horror, and pathos take center stage. She personifies this persistent oscillation between attraction and repulsion, with her abstracted form exemplifying one of Condo’s most celebrated and iconic motifs: the titular abstracted figure, set against a scumbled, muted background reminiscent of classical portraiture. The Alpine Waitress merges the grace and refinement of an Old Master’s woman with the spiritedness and dynamism of contemporary abstraction, characteristic of Condo’s inventive approach towards composition.
“... “chins and necks melt together to form disarming swathes of flesh; cheeks balloon into myriad tumourous shapes; ragged rows of teeth flash unexpectedly from displaced orifices. Yet however odd and fantastical these beings seem, Condo's careful modelling gives them the appearance of volume-displacing, three-dimensional figures who occupy a space identical to our own”
While Condo draws from an incredible repository of art historical references, his works are particularly grounded in the principles of Cubism and their possible applications in the contemporary moment, evident in the geometric fragmentation, interplay of planes and perspectives, and deconstructions of objects and figures. Condo not only incorporates, but elevates the concept, presenting the figure not only from multiple perspectives, but as an embodiment of simultaneous emotional states. On a formal level, the present work echoes Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) both visually and conceptually, as both artists work to challenge conventional means of representation and push the boundaries of figuration, perception, and reality. “I describe what I do”, remarked Condo in 2014 “as psychological cubism. Picasso painted a violin from four different perspectives at one moment. I do the same with psychological states” (George Condo quoted in Stuart Jeffries, George Condo: ‘I was delirious. Nearly Died, The Guardian, 2014).
Condo emerged from the vibrant East Village art scene of the 1980s alongside notable art figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Julian Schnabel. It was Basquiat himself who convinced Condo to make the move to New York in 1980, where he quickly found a job working on the silkscreens at Andy Warhol’s famous Factory. Condo had his first exhibitions in a selection of East Village galleries between 1981-1983, before moving to Los Angeles in 1983 for his first solo exhibition at Ulrike Kantor Gallery. Condo’s first European solo exhibition would follow in quick succession the next year at Monika Sprueth Gallery (1984). Europe would prove a fruitful t.mes for Condo, as he forged friendships with Keith Haring and the famed gallerist Barbara Gladstone, who in 1984 would stage an exhibition of his work back in New York. Condo would spend close to a decade in Europe, only returning to New York in 1995, where he would receive his first major award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, in 1999, followed closely by the prestigious Francis J. Greenberger Award in 2005. Condo’s work was featured in both the 2013 and 2019 Venice Biennale, and can presently be found in the permanent collects ions of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Tate Modern, London, The Broad collects ion, Los Angeles, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, among various others.
