Condo has since developed outstanding painting skills and virtuosity, enabling him to take on and simulate any historical painting style. In his vast creation, "fake old masters' paintings" coexist with his explorations of the human psyche, while figuration and abstraction are woven into tapestries of signs and symbols that find inspiration in the work of writers and musicians, according to Wang Wei, founding director of the Long Museum in Shanghai.

A new cycle titled the Blue Paintings was especially created for the Long Museum, says the curator. This series plays with musical references ranging from blues music to free jazz.

"The Blue Paintings for me are about finding a way to combine techniques and improvisation, knowledge and freedom," Condo wrote about this series. "I think that, as a painter, you use everything you have to make the best thing you can possibly make."

While acknowledging that "so much of contemporary art is about de-skilling", Condo believes artists should not take the technique as a negative.

"You have to use all you've got to break free from your patterns, so that you are breaking the form into which you would be trapped. I paint through and against techniques," he says.

Condo has exhibited his works around the world and twice participated in the La Biennale di Venezia in 2013 and 2019.

His creations have been featured in venues including the Art Gallery of Ontario in Canada, Centre Pompidou in France, and Tate Modern in Britain.

If you go

George Condo: The Picture Gallery

Sept 26-Nov 28

10 am-5:30 pm, Tue-Sun

The Long Museum West Bund 3398 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui district, Shanghai

021-6422-7636