George Condo on Politics: “Am I Gonna Be Allowed to Be What I Am?”
Conversation between Isabelle Dervaux and George Condo. Photo by Lisa Freeman.
As George Condo prepared for his dual exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers in New York last week, the renowned artist's thoughts turned to weightier matters during a revealing conversation with art historian Isabelle Dervaux.
Seated before an audience at Hauser & Wirth’s SoHo gallery, Condo explored the intersection of artistic freedom and political constraint, offering a glimpse into how his distinctive “psychological cubism” speaks to America’s current moment of political uncertainty.
“This is sort of a moment in politics where, you know, without really discussing politics, that people just sit there and wonder, am I gonna be allowed to be what I am and do what I want to do? . . . Who is going to come along and set me free from this situation that we're in,” he said.
Drawing explicit parallels between his artistic philosophy and the current political moment, Condo said art offers a powerful antidote to political constraint. “As an artist, you can do that with your art, and art has that power to liberate its subjects from any kind of constraints that may be imposed by any form of, you know, let's call it political disaster,” he said.
George Condo, Abstract Male Portrait (2024). Acrylic, pastel, and metallic paint on paper. 80 × 78 in. Photo: Matt Grubb. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth. © George Condo
He added that his belief in art’s liberating potential extends beyond painting to all creative expression: “Things like music, art, literature and dance and any form of art are things that are powerful, and they have the freedom within them to express human nature without the constraints, of any form of government and political entities.”
Ultimately, Condo’s message is one of radical individuality and freedom: “I want people to realize that everybody can be themselves and all my characters that look like they're really out there, because they are who they are, and they don't need to be told who to be.”
The simultaneous shows at Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers showcase new works that reaffirm Condo's position as one of America's most compelling painters while offering fresh insight into his evolving artistic vocabulary.
For Condo, the creative process itself mirrors the struggle for individual autonomy. “I would take abstraction and turn it into some kind of reality rather than go the other way around,” he explains, describing his unique approach to figuration. This transformation from abstract to concrete takes on new meaning in today's political climate, where reality itself often seems up for debate.
George Condo, Multiple Personalities (2024). Acrylic and pastel on paper. 78 × 60 in. Photo: Matt Grubb. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth. © George Condo
The artist’s process involves a delicate dance between control and liberation. As he describes it, his work emerges through “improvisation of some sort, where you’re improvising parts and pieces and phrases and gestures.” But the real magic happens in what he calls “a self-actualization that takes place within the figure.” This moment of autonomy is crucial to his practice: “I try to pull myself away from the figure itself and like a creator . . . I want the figure itself to tell me what it wants me to do.”
This surrender of control reflects Condo’s deeper philosophical stance. “I want to take away any of the ‘unconscious’ or—whatever you want to call it—psychological morality of the figure, and set it free and let it exist in its own way without being inhabited by an artist or anybody to tell it what to do,” he says.
Both exhibitions opened on January 29, 2025. The Sprüth Magers show runs through March 1 at 22 E 80th Street, while the Hauser & Wirth show runs through April 12 at 134 Wooster Street.
