Provenance
Skarstedt Gallery, New York
McCabe Fine Art
Catalogue Essay
Regarded as one of the most influential contemporary artists in the field of portraiture, George Condo’s immediately recognisable paintings render raw human characteristics and emotions in a manner that gives equal precedence to the beautiful as it does to the grotesque. Stranger on a Plane (2010) is emblematic of Condo’s imaginative technique of portraying a seemingly everyday subject but transforming it into something otherworldly. If it were not for the humorous twists in his works, they could seem threatening or terrifying in their warped and disfigured appearance. Jeering faces, jutting jaws, sharp protruding teeth and garish grimaces loom out of typically monochrome abysses – made all the more disturbing by their apparent composure and calmness.

Stranger on a Plane (2010) presents a voluptuous seated woman in a yellow dress clutching a drink as a lit cigarette casts a waft of smoke, not from her lips, but her oddly enlarged right ear. Her enraged eyes seem to challenge the viewer for rudely staring at her, meanwhile her typically ‘Condoesque’ upturned jaw expresses exaggerated indignation. An eerie sense of quiet prevails as we feel compelled to look further into the painting as much as we are simultaneously repelled. Thus, Condo manages to emulate the paradoxical appeal which gruesome or unnatural oddities contain through his highly original style.

By focusing on a theme steeped in history and tradition, his portraits simultaneously present ‘an artificial simulated American view of what European painting looked like’ (G. Condo, quoted in George Condo: Mental States, exh. cat., New Museum, New York, 2011, p. 12). Though instantly distinguishable as his own, Condo’s paintings display traces of a wide-reaching range of sources including, but not limited to, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Diego Velazquez. The way in which Condo externalises the internal manifests itself most vigorously in the faces of his figures, thus linking his method of visualisation to that of Francis Bacon whose tortured subjects reveal their internal struggles. As Condo himself commented, 'Picasso painted a violin from four different perspectives at one moment. I do the same with psychological states. Four of them can occur simultaneously. Like glimpsing a bus with one passenger howling over a joke they're hearing down the phone, someone else asleep, someone else crying – I'll put them all in one face.' (G. Condo quoted in S. Jeffries, ‘George Condo: “I was delirious. Nearly Died”’, in The Guardian, 10 February 2014).

Summarised by Condo as psychological cubism or artificial realism, this style of painting combines a refined brushstroke and slightly saturated but lifelike palette, with a fragmented sense of three-dimensionality. Thus, the visual effect of the overall composition is one of unexpected harmony; his multifaceted figures generate an equally multifaceted response from the viewer. We remain transfixed in awe of the intricately constructed alien form before us and yet, as we delve further and scrutinize their features more closely, we begin to see shadows of ourselves in their intimidating faces.
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.
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Property from the Estate of Dr. Fredric S. Brandt, Miami

Ο◆15

George Condo

Stranger on a Plane

2010
oil on canvas
122 x 102.5 cm (48 x 40 3/8 in.)
Signed, titled and dated 'George Condo 2010 "Stranger on a Plane"' on the reverse.

Estimate
£150,000 - 250,000 ‡

Sold for £194,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

1
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Blue Eyes Brown Hanging Perforated Mark M3.d)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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2
Rosemarie Trockel
Study for Old Friend
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £200,500
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3
Peter Doig
Bird House
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £242,500
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4
Richard Prince
Untitled (Cowboy)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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5
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Three-Tiered Perspective)
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £842,500
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6
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,266,500
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7
Christopher Wool
Untitled (Jazz death)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,314,500
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,930,500
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9
Yoshitomo Nara
Missing in Action
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,986,500
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10
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £458,500
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11
Keith Haring
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £218,500
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12
Keith Haring
Untitled (Head Stand)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £482,500
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13
John Baldessari
Two Dogs and Two Aliens
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £266,500
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14
Ed Ruscha
Pneumatic Muscles Hydraulic Smiles
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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15
George Condo
Stranger on a Plane
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £194,500
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16
Albert Oehlen
Omegasachen-35
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £302,500
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17
Damien Hirst
Aminobenzoyl Hydrazide
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £362,500
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18
Alighiero Boetti
Alternandosi e Dividendosi
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £302,500
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19
Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale, Attese
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ♠
Sold for £1,314,500
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20
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £8,000,000 - 12,000,000 ‡
Sold for £7,922,500
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21
Mark Bradford
Constitution IV
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £3,778,500
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22
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,426,500
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23
Danh Vo
VJ Star
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £602,500
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24
Richard Prince
Untitled (Couples)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £152,500
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25
Urs Fischer
Horse Fraud
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £362,500
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26
Cory Arcangel
Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient "Russell's Rainbow" (turn transparency off), mousedown y=25300 x=17600, mouse up y=4300 x=17600
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £158,500
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27
Yayoi Kusama
Infinity-Nets (OPARHJ)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £530,500
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28
Sterling Ruby
SP60
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £482,500
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29
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Wide Sight (study)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £338,500
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30
Neo Rauch
Die Lage
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £866,500
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31
Anselm Kiefer
The Secret Life of Plants
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £362,500
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32
Anselm Kiefer
Paete non Dolet
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £218,500
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33
Antony Gormley
Domain XV
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £218,500
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Jonas Wood
D.J.
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £62,500
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36
Richard Prince
Untitled (portrait)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £98,500
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37
KAWS
Snoopy: Red Baron
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £128,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

Create your first list.

Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

George Condo

Ο◆15

George Condo

Stranger on a Plane

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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