George Condo Metal states looks at Condo’s art career from 1982 onward. It was published relating to the exhibition: George Condo: Mental states. Condo’s relationship to art history, pop culture and contemporary society are also elaborated in the monograph. George Condo is an American Contemporary visual artist and his works are known for their psychological cubism.

The tone of this book conveys is quite positive. “Condo proves through his production that he can do anything – has done almost anything.” (L.Hoptman, 2011) is a key quotation from this book because it acknowledges that Condo has explored so many different modes of art practice. Condo has studied so many of the famous predating artist’s practices and he is able to imitate and channel them to some extent for audiences to recognise without Condo copying individual motifs.

The purpose of this book is share the range of artworks created by George Condo, to describe his practice and the context of his subject matter to the contemporary audience. It also acknowledges the background of how he works, the effects of his works on the viewers and the meanings they imply.

[Bibliography]

Self, W., Rugoff, R., Hoptman, L. and Means, D. (2011). George Condo: Mental States. London: Hayward Publishing.

For a recent art examination I have painted a portrait of myself using the techniques I have developed in the last year. The task of the exam was to create a painting of choice and I have not painted a self-portrait using the techniques I have developed, therefore I thought that this would be a great opportunity to try something new. During the creation of this work as well as painting what is seen from the photograph, I added random colours and shapes to make the portrait more visually exciting. As much as the figure in the foreground takes the main focus, certain smaller details and features in the background stand out too and make it just as visually stimulating.

To develop this piece further, I would love to expand it. I would add more characters/ shapes and scenery to build the narrative further. I personally think that large pieces have such an impact of the viewer, because they can be filled with so many details. I could also attempt turning it into a triptych, where I’d have three or more portraits of myself creating a step by step story of e.g. my emotions, mental states etc.

self portrait, 01.09.2017, oil on canvas (~ 40 cm x 50 cm)