George Condo

Leo Koening Inc., New York
Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich
Phillips, London, October 16, 2014, lot 146
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

The work is in good condition overall. There is a 6 cm crease located 30 cm to the top and 25 cm to the left edge. Few tears to the edges of the paper collage, consistent with the artist's working method. No evidence of restoration under ultraviolet light. Framed under Plexiglas.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

“I love the idea of two incompatible worlds brought together – opposing forces harmonically melded.” George Condo

Late Night in St. Moritz is an immaculate example of George Condo’s highly iconic and stylized paintings about modern society and the contemporary psyche. Best known for his figures which are instantly recognizable through their distortions and geometric additions, Condo has invented a new visual vocabulary that draws on the techniques and styles of his Modernist predecessors while imbued with contemporary abstraction. In the present composition, the multitude of figures, abstract forms, spatial and dimensional incongruity result in a fictional realm that is much like the raucous, disorienting atmosphere one would experience in the late hours during a night out.

Since the early 1980s, Condo has pioneered a hybrid-topography of the human figure, coining the term Artificial Realism to describe his hybridization of traditional European Old Master painting with popular culture. By appropriating and internalizing a multiplicity of pictorial languages to construct a new, contemporary vision of painting, the artist has thus created a unique brand of psychologically charged portraiture.