BRUSSELS.- With the occasion of it’s ten years anniversary Charles Riva Collection is presenting a selection of works by American artist George Condo, a master of contemporary painting.

Aiming to present the multiplicity of styles and the exceptional skillfulness of his artistic practice, the exhibition Charles Riva Collection includes several significant works - drawing, painting and sculpture - spanning from his grotesque portraits to more abstract and expressionist pieces.

George Condo (b.1957) started his career more than 30 years ago, in an effervescent New York, with Basquiat, Warhol, and many others young - soon to become famous artists- as neighbours and friends. His prolific artistic production between the 80’s and late 2000’s exploring numerous pictorial languages and drawing on countless historical and contemporary references was highlighted in George Condo: Mental States a first retrospective that toured in 2011-2012 major institutions like New Museum (New York), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Hayward Gallery (London), Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt).

Often shown next to or in opposition with some of the works that inspired his paintings (like works of Picasso) in what could be a transhistorical artistic game, his works shape such a singular view of contemporaneity that is humorous and critical at the same time; a reason for praise both from curators and collectors.

His knowledge of art history combined with his extraordinary technique and with ironical appropriation of contemporary symbols has shaped a body of work coined as «Artificial Realism».

His portraits are inspired by figures half dream and half encompassing a strong social identity held by the figure of the clown, the butler, the hobo or with « Jean-Louis » series incarnating the french imaginary character which he had pictured in a multitude of works.

At ease with a variety of mediums, George Condo explored also the possibilities of ink and gesso on paper throughout a series that unfolds a darker mood. The striking Mother and Child, 2013 seize all the dark energy of the presence of the two figures; the drawn lines and the colors appearing on the paper are reminiscent of Francis Bacon’s paintings or the chromatic vibrations of Mark Rothko canvas.

In recent works such as Back Channel, 2016-2017 or more old like Escape Route II, 2001 the abstract lines put the artist’s gesture at the center. On dense and deconstructed large formats chaos arises as an allusion to the political situation in America or agglutinated female bodies and other creatures in suggestive positions create a real tension with reality.