“The American artist George Condo (b. 1957) has not been shown in Scandinavia, so his drawings from four decades present a unique opportunity to get to previously know this original artist. The artist is a classic in his own country and has recently had major museum exhibitions in London, Rotterdam, Paris and most recently in Berlin.

Throughout the years Condo has challenged the idea that the drawing is secondary to the painting. While it would be wrong to say that Condo is not also a painter, his works on paper form such a high-profile part of his production that this, Louisiana’s introduction to his art from 1974 until the present day, involves a good 130 works and 223 sketchbooks – on paper.

In all his artistic life Condo has had an active relationship with historical formats and individual figures from the history of art: Picasso more than anyone else, but also Bacon, Giacometti, Guston, Pollock, Manet, and Velázquez. The most important thing in this respect is to understand that he is not presenting us with a historical quiz or game, or simulating a link with the past that is not about the here and now. Condo was close to artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat on the New York scene of the 1980s and he has continually tested the modernisms and avant-gardes of the European tradition with a starting point in his own American reality.

The Way I Think suggests that with the exhibition the artist is arguing broadly for his own view of art, and this look over his shoulder, with works from more than three decades, offers unusually rich insights into his art. But the title is also specifically a description of what in the artist’s view is actually happening and is experienced in the individual works as motif, as thought and as action.” — Louisiana

George Condo, Skull, 1988. Charcoal and conté crayon on paper, 35,6 × 24,1 cm. Collection of the artist, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Ballet Study 1, 1998. Watercolour on paper, 22,9 × 31,1 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Ballet Study 1, 1998. Watercolour on paper, 22,9 × 31,1 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Ballerina and Her Thoughts, 1998. Watercolour and ink on paper, 36.2 × 50.8 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, The Lunatic, 1998. Pastel on paper, 203,2 × 203,2 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: Adam Reich

George Condo, Mental States 4, 2000. Graphite, charcoal and pastel on paper, 59,1 × 45,7 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Untitled, 2003. Pastel on paper 111, x 76,2 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: Skarstedt Gallery

George Condo, Mental Sketch, 2004. Colored pencil on paper 66 × 48,3 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Playboy Bunny, 2005. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 38,1 × 29,2 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

George Condo, Study for Seated Nude, 2005. Ink on paper, 21,6 × 16,5 cm. Private Collection, New York © George Condo. Photo: George Condo Studio

The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and George Condo. The organizer and curator is Anders Kold.

Images courtesy Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.