GEORGE CONDO (B. 1957)

Wrought by stark black outlines against an intense wash of blue, Blue Expanding Orgy is one of the most explicit, striking figurative abstraction works by George Condo to appear in auction. Braving the sexual taboo, Condo confronts the audience with a life-size composition of twisted and tangled nude figures engaging in a variety of sexual activity: at once, most viewers might shy away from the obscene image as conditioned by social practice; yet the smudged and chaotic throes of figures might allure them to take a closer look and traverse the ambiguity in this work. As Ralph Rugoff, the director of Hayward Gallery, London, notes “these figures can be seductive and repulsive at the same time. They embody a position that is simultaneously frightening and appealing.”

With different versions of its prints collected in the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Blue Expanding Orgy is a captivating example that epitomizes Condo’s exploration of the style he coined “Psychological Cubism” during the early years. The artist has successfully garnered the attention of commercial and institutional sectors, such as the collaboration with luxury brand Dior and the award-winning singer Kanye West, as well as the opening of the largest retrospective in Asia at Long Museum, Shanghai.