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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

George Condo. Drawings for Distanced Figures

Streaming on Hauser & Wirth

George Condo, isolated at his home studio in upstate New York over the last few weeks, describes the figures he has been drawing as “distanced from one another or in fact even distanced from themselves.” In pencil, ink, and crayon, the drawings contain a recurring motif of multiple eyes, which suggests the dark side of watchfulness, wariness, even paranoia. Meanwhile a cubistic play with planes expresses a multifaceted problem. Condo, who takes inspiration from music, likes to work up-tempo—think Glenn Gould playing Bach. One feels the fugue in his solitary responses to the moment. —E.C.

George Condo, “Together and Apart,” 2020. © George Condo. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth