Oral history interview with George Condo
name: label: Interviewee
content: Condo, George
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
label: Names
content: Devo (Musical group)
label: Names
content: Massachusetts College of Art -- Students
label: Names
content: Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960-1988
label: Names
content: Bishofberger, Bruno
label: Names
content: Clements, Dawn
label: Names
content: Dagley, Mark
label: Names
content: Dahn, Walter, 1954-
label: Names
content: Haring, Keith
label: Names
content: Herman, Roger
label: Names
content: Hughes, Frederick W., 1943-2001
label: Names
content: Kantor, Ulrike
label: Names
content: Kelly, Gene, 1912-1996
label: Names
content: Sharp, Willoughby
label: Names
content: Smith, Rupert Jasen
label: Names
content: Tyrrell, Susan
label: Names
content: Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
place: label: Place
content: Europe -- description and travel
topic: label: Topic
content: Art -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Jazz
label: Topic
content: Music
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Photo-realism
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Punk rock music
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Condo, George
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: George Condo (1957- ) is a contemporary visual artist working in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a publisher and writer in Brooklyn, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Items (sound files (3 hr., 19 min.) Audio, digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 88 Pages (Transcript)
phystech: label: System Details
content: Recorded on Tascam DR-100MKII R000330.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2017 May 5-June 20
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.condo17
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with George Condo conducted 2017 May 5 and June 20, by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Condo's studio in New York, New York.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Condo speaks of his childhood and adolescence in New England; his Italian grandparents and heritage; his early obsession with drawing; the mathematical dimension of his mind; his Catholic upbringing and its influence on his art; exposure to literature, art, and music through his family; his decision to pursue visual art rather than music; the influence of jazz on his approach to making art; his understanding of tradition and originality; the influence of a wide range of literature on his approach to making art; dropping out of Mass College of Art; playing in a Boston punk rock band called The Girls in the late 1970s; moving to New York in 1981; working on Andy Warhol's silk-screening assembly line; moving to Los Angeles in 1982; being shown in Ulrike Kantor's gallery with Roger Herman's help; formative trips to Europe in the 1980s; important romantic relationships; changes in the New York art world in the 1990s; developing the concept of Artificial Realism; and his appreciation for the old masters of painting. Condo also recalls Dawn Clements, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Devo, Mark Dagley, Rupert Smith, Fred Hughes, Susan Tyrrell, Gene Kelly, Willoughby Sharp, Walter Dahn, Bruno Bischofberger, and others.