George Condo: The Mad and the Lonely

The DESTE Foundation presents “The Mad and the Lonely”, an exhibition by George Condo at DESTE’s Project Space, a former Slaughterhouse on Hydra.

The exhibition features small-scale paintings and sculptures from Condo’s career, depicting rejected, lonely, and mad characters in his distinctive abstract style. Condo draws from art history, blending Renaissance, Baroque, Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop Art to create his “Psychological Cubism.” Works like “Woman with Bear” (1997), “Lunatic” (2009), and “The Jester” (2019) illustrate his approach, merging joy and agony, figuration and abstraction.

Condo’s fictional characters reflect modern social uncertainties and psychological realities. The exhibition, combining polychromatic Greek painting and minimalist sculpture, offers a new presentation of his work, emphasizing the emotional spectrum of the human psyche. Set in Hydra’s Slaughterhouse, the show confronts viewers with the fragmented characters and the paradoxes of modern life, echoing the island’s blend of ancient and modern elements.