Provenance
Pace Wildenstein, New York; Private collection, New York; Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, Knokke, Belgium; Private collection, Switzerland
Exhibited
Knokke, Belgium, Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, The Essence of George Condo: 1983-1996, December 17, 2005 - February 5, 2006
Catalogue Essay
George Condo came to prominence in the 1980s with his inauguration of the term Abstract Realism, a category that gave the artist’s work an energy all its own. Condo’s Abstract Realism weaves stylistic and figurative tensions, exploring the psychological complexities of parody and pathos inherent in human nature.
The artist’s most exquisite paintings convey multiple psychological dimensions, of which this present lot, Particle Pick Up, is a seamless example. Condo’s portraiture draws figurative influence from the Old Masters, while his style is steered by the modern trends of Cubism, Surrealism and Animation. Set against a bare background, the female figure juxtaposes satire and desolation, a modern expression of sexuality boldly removing itself from the sensual, idealized approach of art historical convention.

As Henry Geldzahler said of the work, “it is through a carnival-like burlesque that Condo continually subverts the terms he is using… the many absurd portraits he paints are masks, behind which he works" (Nicholas Robinson Gallery, 2007).
Artist Biography
George Condo
American • 1957
Picasso once said, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." Indeed, American artist George Condo frequently cites Picasso as an explicit source in his contemporary cubist compositions and joyous use of paint. Condo is known for neo-Modernist compositions staked in wit and the grotesque, which draw the eye into a highly imaginary world.
Condo came up in the New York art world at a time when art favored brazen innuendo and shock. Student to Warhol, best friend to Basquiat and collaborator with William S. Burroughs, Condo tracked a different path. He was drawn to the endless inquiries posed by the aesthetics and formal considerations of Caravaggio, Rembrandt and the Old Masters.
View More Works

109

George Condo

Particle Pick Up

1996
Oil on canvas.
78 x 120 in. (198.1 x 304.8 cm).
Signed and dated “Condo 96” upper right; also signed and titled “Condo ‘Particle Pick up’” on the reverse.

Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000

Sold for $542,500

Contemporary Art Part I

8 November 2010
New York

101
Glenn Ligon
Gold just us #7
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $98,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
102
Charles Ray
Wet Paint
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $422,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
103
Robert Gober
Untitled Candle
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $458,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
104
Dan Colen
Untitled (Vete al diablo)
Estimate $150,000 - 250,000
Sold for $290,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
105
Christopher Wool
ONE YEAR NO HALLOWEEN (P464)
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $602,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
106
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $698,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
107
Andy Warhol
Mona Lisa
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,986,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
108
Jeff Koons
Caterpillar Ladder
Estimate $5,500,000 - 7,500,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
109
George Condo
Particle Pick Up
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $542,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
110
Keith Haring
Andy Mouse
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $722,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
111
Richard Prince
Crazy Three
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $458,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
112
Maurizio Cattelan
Frank and Jamie
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,594,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
113
Richard Prince
Untitled (Cowboy)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $902,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
114
Takashi Murakami
Eye Love SUPERFLAT
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
115
Ed Ruscha
Sex at Noon Taxes
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $4,338,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
116
Roy Lichtenstein
Two figures, Indian
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,890,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
117
Mark Rothko
No. 9
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $842,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
118
Ed Ruscha
Production
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $662,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
119
Cecily Brown
Eclogue
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
120
Eric Fischl
April in the Shower
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $338,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
121
Jean-Michel Basquiat
MP
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
122
Jenny Holzer
Selections from Erlauf II
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $386,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
123
Bill Viola
Union
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $242,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
124
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $302,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
125
Martin Creed
Work No. 202: Half the air in a given space
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $98,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
126
Raymond Pettibon
No Title (a reaction to) Surfer
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $92,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

Contemporary Art Part I

8 November 2010 New York

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

George Condo

109

George Condo

Particle Pick Up

Contemporary Art Part I

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

8 November 2010
New York