“It’s the obliteration of the characters that keep haunting me. His compositions tend toward verticality, a gap bordered by black or, as he puts it: “A curtain you can look through into this mental landscape.” The tall space in the middle is populated with clamoring shapes and screaming faces, the monsters ever present, diminished in size though not in number. In works like Reflections in My Mind and Zombie Modernism the paint is applied liberally, sculpted up and off the canvas in a nod to late Van Gogh works like Mulberry Tree. It seemed time to add a new weapon to his arsenal – a palette knife. He bristled at the idea of covering the works in glass, so instead decided to move away from pastel and charcoal. Back then, he quickly realized he would have to take measures to ensure that his drawings didn’t disappear, smeared on the shoulder of some oaf in an overcoat. These, along with abstract portraits and compositions like Landslide and Tumbling Forms, mark a departure from Condo’s previous work involving drawing, pastel and charcoal like those in his 2014 London shows at Skarstedt and Simon Lee galleries.
Photograph: © George Condo / Artists Rights Society/Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers I was in five different places in my mind at the same time.” When he was diagnosed, he says: “I was just freaking out doing these paintings.
As is his custom, the new work combines elements of masters like Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon without ever stooping to gimmickry. He seems energized as he nears the canvas, a self-portrait in monochrome quadrants, each with features rendered in expressionistic blurs. “I was starting to feel very scrambled up and thinking about my kids and how bad my situation was,” he says in a voice still raspy from surgery.
A bout with cancer of the vocal cords last year spawned a bigger, badder breed of demon to exorcise, which Condo confronted with the only weapon he knows – his paintbrush. But in his latest show, Entrance to the Void at Spruth Magers in Los Angeles, the monsters are of a different kind. These themes are scattered throughout the album showing that the cold and calculating media master really is human and in a way, these types of verses reveal his insecurity and vulnerability.I t seems as though there have always been monsters lurking in George Condo’s artwork, whether it be the psychological cubist portraits depicting various emotional states, or the white demon that graces the cover of Kanye West’s 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It’s introspective, witty, honest and even strokes his trademark ego as he refers to himself as “Malcolm West”.
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“ Is hip hop just a euphemism for a new religion?/ The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missin’?/ But this is more than just my road to redemption/ Malcolm West had the whole nation standing at attention/ As long as I’m in Polos smilin’, they think they got me/ But they would try to crack me if they ever see a black me“ Take for example an excerpt from his excellent verses on Gorgeous: Previously, I threw Kanye in the growing pile of great producers who had mediocre mic skills with a few notable exceptions but this is the first Kanye album where I felt the outstanding production didn’t overshadow his sometimes glaring deficiencies as a rapper. While never considered a lyrical wizard, I think ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is one of his strongest efforts lyrically. Even though I’m a huge fan of RZA and the Wu, his voice is not great and Swizz is just annoying so to bring them onto a song to only do the chorus just doesn’t make sense to me. So Appalled features Jay-Z, Pusha T, CyHi Da Prynce and two totally unnecessary appearances from Swizz Beatz and RZA, who each take a turn with the repetitive and corny chorus. The second posse cut is by far my least favorite song on the album, though still not a bad song overall, which is a testament to how strong this album is. While I feel that Kanye had the best written verse and the smoothest delivery of the three, Nicki unquestionably steals the show and commands your attention with her crazy vocal inflections. It’s clear here how much of a difference mic presence can have on the listener. The simple beat allows the stars of the song: ‘Ye, Jay and Nicki to flex their lyrical muscles with typical braggadocio. The first is Monster featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Bon Iver. Sitting right in the middle of the album are two huge posse cuts, which are actually two of the most traditional hip hop songs on the album in terms of structure and sound.