This exquisite four color process archival pigment print after George Condo (born 1957), titled Purple Compression, from the folio George Condo, Drawing Paintings, originates from the 2011 edition published by Skarstedt Gallery, New York, and printed by Transcontinental Litho Acme, Montréal, 2011. Purple Compression exemplifies Condo’s synthesis of classical technique and psychological distortion, uniting humor and existential tension through his concept of “Artificial Realism”—a vision in which the absurd and the profound coexist within a single image.
Executed as a four color process archival pigment print on velin paper, this work measures 10.75 x 18.5 inches, with centerfold as issued. Unsigned and unnumbered as issued. The edition exemplifies the refined craftsmanship of Transcontinental Litho Acme, Montréal, and the high production standards of Skarstedt Gallery, New York.
Artwork Details:
Artist: After George Condo (born 1957)
Title: Purple Compression, from the folio George Condo, Drawing Paintings
Medium: Four color process archival pigment print on velin paper
Dimensions: 10.75 x 18.5 inches (27.3 x 47 cm), with centerfold as issued
Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered as issued
Date: 2011
Publisher: Skarstedt Gallery, New York
Printer: Transcontinental Litho Acme, Montréal
Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium
Provenance: From the folio George Condo, Drawing Paintings, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, 2011
Notes:
Excerpted from the folio, Published on the occasion of the exhibition, George Condo, Drawing Paintings, November 4 - December 17, 2011, Skarstedt Gallery, 20 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075. Project Coordinators: Brady Doty and Dina Shaulov-Wright; Design: And Smith, LLC; Printing: Transcontinental Litho Acme. All images © George Condo. Photographs by Benjamin Provo and Chris Hood. Edition of CD + C, signed and numbered examples.
About the Publication:
George Condo, Drawing Paintings (2011), published by Skarstedt Gallery, New York, stands as a definitive documentation of one of Condo’s most acclaimed bodies of work. The publication accompanied the landmark exhibition of the same name, held at Skarstedt Gallery from November 4 through December 17, 2011, which brought together a series of works exploring the intersection of drawing and painting—two modes of creation that Condo masterfully fused into a single, psychologically charged process. Produced with meticulous attention to detail, the folio exemplifies the gallery’s commitment to fine art publishing, combining archival printing, and scholarly design to convey the visual complexity and intellectual depth of Condo’s practice. Printed by Transcontinental Litho Acme in Montréal, the edition reflects the technical precision and tonal richness necessary to convey Condo’s painterly surfaces and dynamic compositions. The project was realized under the direction of Project Coordinators Brady Doty and Dina Shaulov-Wright, with design by And Smith, LLC, ensuring the publication’s seamless integration of artistic and curatorial vision. More than a catalogue, the folio serves as both a visual archive and an aesthetic object in its own right, capturing the tension between chaos and order that defines Condo’s work. George Condo, Drawing Paintings remains an essential record of the artist’s ongoing dialogue between imagination, art history, and the fractured psychology of contemporary existence.
About the Artist:
George Condo (born 1957) is an American contemporary artist celebrated for his visionary fusion of abstraction, figuration, and psychological portraiture that bridges the grandeur of Old Master painting with the fractured sensibilities of modern and postmodern art. Born in Concord, New Hampshire, Condo studied art history and music theory before moving to New York City in 1979, where he became a central figure in the East Village art scene alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Julian Schnabel. His early experiences at Andy Warhol’s Factory exposed him to the interplay between fame, seriality, and popular culture, informing his concept of “Artificial Realism,” a style that merges classical draftsmanship with the chaos of contemporary life. Profoundly influenced by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, Condo inherited from them a spirit of radical invention, surrealism, and intellectual play, transforming these legacies into his own psychologically charged idiom. His signature “psychological cubism” reimagines portraiture through fractured, expressive figures that embody the instability of modern identity, fusing beauty and grotesque distortion in a single image. Condo’s mastery of color, structure, and emotional tension draws upon the legacy of Velazquez, Goya, and Rembrandt while channeling the existential depth of Giacometti and the conceptual wit of Duchamp. His collaborations with William S. Burroughs and his iconic 2010 album cover for Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy exemplify his ongoing dialogue between high art and pop culture. Like Picasso, Miro, Dali, and Duchamp before him, Condo’s work captures the delirium and multiplicity of the human psyche through a language of visual fragmentation that continues to shape contemporary art. His influence can be seen in later artists such as Dana Schutz, Adrian Ghenie, Eddie Martinez, and Genieve Figgis, all of whom draw from his bold fusion of art-historical depth and psychological intensity. Featured in major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Condo’s work has achieved critical and commercial acclaim for its technical brilliance and philosophical scope. The highest auction record for George Condo was achieved with Force Field (2010), which sold for $6.85 million USD at Sotheby’s, New York, on May 12, 2021, cementing his place as one of the most important and influential artists of the twenty-first century and a key inheritor of the modernist legacy of Picasso, Miro, Duchamp, and Dali.
George Condo Purple Compression Drawing Paintings Skarstedt Gallery New York 2011 pigment print Contemporary Modernism.
