What is George Condo's net worth?
George Condo is an American contemporary visual artist who has a net worth of $400 million. George Condo works in a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Since emerging on the East Village art scene in the early 1980s, he has established a reputation for blending traditional European art styles with the sensibility of the American pop movement. Condo has collaborated with many famous figures throughout his career, including artist and writer William S. Burroughs and French philosopher Félix Guattari.
His work has been exhibited all over the world and he has had permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and more. In May 2018, one of George's paintings sold for $6.16 million (with fees). That set his own record for most expensive piece sold, breaking his previous record by $2 million.
Early Life and Education
George Condo was born in 1957 in Concord, New Hampshire. Growing up, he studied guitar and music composition and pursued his passion for drawing and painting. For his higher education, Condo went to the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he studied art history and music theory. After two years there, he moved to Boston and began working at a silk screen shop.
Career Beginnings
Pursuing his interest in music while in Boston, Condo joined a proto-synth band called The Girls. As a bassist, he was joined by abstract painter Mark Dagley and avant-garde musicians David Hild and Robin Amos. The Girls released one single, which came out in 1979. That year, Condo met visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat when Basquiat's band Gray opened for The Girls in New York. Inspired to pursue a career in the visual arts, Condo moved to New York City.
Visual Art Career
In the early 1980s, Condo emerged as a major name on New York City's East Village art scene. As his popularity grew, he coined the term "artificial realism" to refer to his unique blending of traditional European painting styles with an American pop sensibility. Condo held the first public exhibitions of his work from 1981 to 1983, during which time he worked in Andy Warhol's factory space. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles for a short spell, where he had his first solo exhibition at Ulrike Kantor Gallery. Condo went on to move to Cologne, Germany shortly after that; there, he collaborated with several artists from the Mulheimer Freiheit group, such as Jiri Georg Dokoupil and Walter Dahn. He held his first European solo exhibition in 1984 at Monika Sprüth Gallery. While still in Europe, Condo started working with American art dealer Barbara Gladstone. Upon his return to New York City, he met and befriended fellow visual artist Keith Haring, with whom he remained friends until Haring's passing from AIDS in 1990. A number of Condo's most significant works from the mid-to-late 80s were painted in Haring's studio in the East Village. A large number of his other works were done in hotels and rented studios between New York City and Paris.
Condo worked professionally with many other major figures throughout the 1980s and 90s. Among them was writer and visual artist William S. Burroughs, with whom Condo collaborated on several paintings and sculptures. Selected works by the duo were exhibited in 1997 at Pat Hearn Gallery in New York. Condo and Burroughs also collaborated on a collection of writings and etchings called "Ghost of Chance." In other professional partnerships, Condo collaborated with renowned French philosopher Félix Guattari, who wrote extensively about Condo's work and provided him with an introductory text for a solo exhibition. Condo has also collaborated with myriad authors and musicians doing commissions for book and album covers. Notably, in 2010, he worked with rapper Kanye West to create a series of paintings for West's album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." Additionally, Condo has designed album covers for such musical artists as Phish, Danny Elfman, and Anthony Roth Costanzo.
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Permanent Collections
In addition to his plethora of exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world, Condo has much of his work featured in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions. These institutions include New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Washington, DC's Corcoran Gallery of Art and Los Angeles's Broad Foundation.
Legacy and Recognition
Condo's work has been influential on a wide range of artists and writers over the years. He has influenced such artists as Nigel Cooke, John Currin, Glenn Brown, Lisa Yuskavage, and Sean Landers, and such writers as William S. Burroughs and Félix Guattari, both of whom he collaborated with. Condo has also influenced author Salman Rushdie, whose 2001 novel "Fury" features a chapter inspired by Condo's 1994 painting "The Psychoanalytic Puppeteer Losing His Mind"; and writer David Means, whose short story "The Butler's Lament" was inspired by Condo's 2010 painting "The Fallen Butler."
Much critical writing has been done about Condo's work, and several monographs have been published. In 1999, the artist was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2005 earned the Francis J. Greenburger Award. He has lectured at many prestigious universities and museums across the country. Condo is also the subject of John McNaughton's 2000 documentary film "Condo Painting," which charts the progress of the artist's large-scale oil painting "Big Red" and showcases his collaborations with William S. Burroughs.
Personal Life
In 1989, Condo married actress Anna Achdian. They had two daughters named Eleonore and Raphaelle before divorcing in 2016. Condo went on to date businesswoman and former actress Ashley Olsen.
