The Clown (2010 painting)

The Clown
Artist	George Condo
Year	2010
Medium	Oil on linen
Dimensions	97 cm × 110 cm (38 in × 42 in)
Location	Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester
Accession	2014.64

The Clown is a half-length portrait by American artist George Condo, painted in oil on linen. Measuring 38 inches by 42 inches, the painting depicts a distorted human-like clown figure wearing a furry, colorful polka-dotted outfit. In 2014, the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) in Rochester, New York added this piece to its permanent collection, made possible by the Marion Stratton Gould Fund. In conversation, Condo has likened this painting to “an insane Benjamin Franklin” and considered it to be the most pathetic self-portrait he could imagine.

Description

The clown figure has two faces—the main face is of typical anatomical placement, while the second, smaller face is on the forehead. On the clown’s main face, his features are bulbous. His left eye is bulging out of its socket, and his nose and cheeks are large, round forms. The clown has furrowed eyebrows, and doesn’t seem to have a mouth. Instead, his chin extends to his nose, and there are teeth-like forms below the edges of his nose, his cheeks, and the second face’s mustache.

The top of his head is bald, while the sides of his head has messy, graying hair that reaches his shoulders. There are two blue pins sticking out on the sides of the top of his head, and a smoking cigarette sticking from his left ear. His oversized clothing wraps around his body, hiding his arms. There are thin, feminine hands with painted red nails holding the sides of his body.

The painting uses mainly neutral colors in the face, with the polka dots and background using playful, but desaturated hues.

Condo's style

George Condo’s style borrows from the Renaissance, Baroque, Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop Art. His works are a combination of classical European techniques and American pop culture, where his realistic portraits have exaggerated, cartoon-ish features to them. Condo is heavily influenced by Pablo Picasso.

Psychological Cubism

Condo was born in 1957, and grew up where abstraction dominated the art world. Abstraction was about deconstructing reality, and Condo wanted to reconstruct abstraction back into realism by dismantling one reality and constructing another from the same parts. Cubism deals with mostly objects and their physical forms in fragments combined in an abstract form. Psychological cubism is similar, but instead of dealing with objects, Condo paints humans and their emotional and psychological states.

Artificial Realism

Condo also describes his art as artificial realism, "the realistic representation of that which is artificial," which is the idea of representing reality with man-made appearances. Condo believes that even when realists try to paint photorealistic depictions of reality, they’ll never be true visual copies, unlike photographs, because realists paint through a human-made interpretation of reality. This is therefore, artificial.

Interpretation

Many of the characters in Condo's paintings are figures of tragicomedy and have exaggerated, grotesque features. Yet, these characters feel strangely familiar. Their expressive faces often resonate deeply with viewers, as Condo paints them with empathy, instead of mockery and ridicule. Clowns are usually figures of low art, but Condo paints them in the high art medium of oil paint. This prompts viewers to reconsider the clown as a figure worthy of deeper reflection beyond its traditional role in entertainment, but also where its value lies in contemporary art.

Condo prefers painting subjects often overlooked or dehumanized in society. He criticizes artists who “make every person look like a fashion model; every woman has to have a certain kind of body, every man has to look a certain way.” Instead, he focuses on capturing the resilience of everyday people, depicting people like beggars, thieves, lowlifes, “people who drive taxis, take out our garbage, or do the simple things in life.” Condo seeks to evoke empathy for people, regardless of social classes, challenging the idea that portraiture is only reserved for the wealthy, powerful, or conventionally beautiful. This is evident in many of his paintings, like The Secretary (1998), The Janitor (1999), The Drinker (1996), The Butler (2000), The Stockbroker (2002), [and] The Barber (2005).

Reactions

Beyond Beauty Exhibition

The Clown is currently exhibited in the gallery of MAG's 17th century European art. When it was first unveiled, visitors had mixed reactions. Some found the contrast between Condo's contemporary surrealism and the traditional Old Masters paintings engaging, as it prompted them to view contemporary art in the lens of the historical works they reference. However, even though Condo has had a long-established career, the placement of his surreal clown alongside Old Master paintings challenged other visitors' preconceived ideas about artistic taste and skills.

The diverse conversation around The Clown inspired MAG's Beyond Beauty exhibition, which was on display from June 9, 2023 to November 26, 2023. Beyond Beauty showcased artwork from MAG's permanent collection where artists intentionally push beyond conventional notions of art and beauty to express their vision, deliver impactful messages, and provoke viewers. Many of these works were centered on the human form, emphasizing the role of art on perspectives of the human experience.