Common to all the pictures is the motif of blossoming in nature—a joyful event further emphasized by the bright colors. Yet a closer look reveals that the flowers have faded; leaves glow in autumnal hues or lie withered on the ground; fruits have dried; the duo’s poses exude exhaustion and fatigue. Autumnal scenes of nature can be interpreted as a metaphor for the autumn of life, an eternal cycle of passing and reawakening. The works also allude to the process of aging, to the confrontation with one’s own transience—a theme all the more omnipresent and palpable in the wake of a deadly global pandemic.

Completed in 2019, Gilbert & George’s studies of the relationship between humans and nature take on new relevance and significance in the current context. The artists present a vision of paradise that is ultimately transcendental—a representation of how we might situate ourselves in the modern world, but also how we can change for the Gilbert & George (*1943, San Martin de Tor; *1942, Plymouth) met as students at St Martin’s School of Art in London in 1967 and have collaborated ever since. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2021); Kunsthalle Zurich (2020); Fondation Louis-Vuitton, Paris; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (both 2019); Helsinki Art Museum (2018); Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest (2017); Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania (2016); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015); Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (2014); Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2011); Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk (2011); Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (2010); De Young Museum, San Francisco (2008); Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin (2008); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2008); and Tate Modern, London (2007). Gilbert & George represented Great Britain at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. Group exhibitions include those at The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2020); The Warehouse, Dallas (2017); The Jewish Museum, New York (2016); The Drawing Center, New York (2016); Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2014); Nottingham Contemporary (2014); Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2013); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2012); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2012); Hong Kong Heritage Museum (2011); and Kunsthaus Zurich (2011)

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present Linear Expression, an exhibition of recent works on canvas and paper by George Condo that are exemplary of his wide-ranging practice. In particular, they display his virtuosic and varied use of line to delineate the mysterious, symbolic figures that have populated his works for more than four decades. Using quick, calculated gestures, which are then overlaid with rich tonalities and brushwork, Condo’s imaginary portraits invoke the kaleidoscopic range of human emotion.

With this new body of work, abstracted characters hold space together but rarely connect through eye contact or touch—a reflection, perhaps, of the past year of uncertainty and distance. Condo links them instead through his complex matrix of lines and gestures. In the painting Anticipation (2021), a palette of creams and pinks— starkly demarcated with black outlines—evokes the human body, as do two pairs of wide-open eyes and a suited torso; while brisk strokes of red, white and blue, as well as deliberate drips and spatters, generate the frenetic, expressionistic energy reflected in the work’s title.

Another oil-on-linen painting, Linear Portrait Composition (2021), introduces the characters for which Condo is so well known: the serene girl, seen in profile and reminiscent of Picasso’s classical period nudes; the cartoonish, dog-like figure, whose bulbous black nose and rounded cheeks introduce an element of absurdity to the scene; and the mad, toothy male visage, who here seems to have a cell for a brain, or even a virus. Held together via intersecting geometric planes, they each represent different states of being often trapped within one psyche.

Linear Expression also includes a number of drawings—a medium that has always been crucial to the artist’s way of working, and whose intimacy allows the flair and diversity of Condo’s draftsmanship to come to the fore. On the one hand are works with open, airy networks of wax crayon lines in cool hues, as in The Unexpected Guest (2020) and Seated Drinkers (2020), which coalesce in groups of figures who gaze across the page or directly toward the viewer. On the other hand, the buildup of inked strokes, colorful facets, and differing methods of mark-making in Scrambled Heads (2021) exudes a layered, cacophonous intensity.

Elfgen’s new works have a meaningful connection with the title. They are reminiscent of 19th-century Romantic landscapes in which the artists evoked a kind of painting that sought to depict the divine in the earthly—and with it, the unseen in the seen. Yet a closer look reveals that these paintings are abstractions composed of various, interacting color gradients. In this way, Elfgen uses color to manifest nature. He applies spray paint with accents of ink; the ink introduces an element of chance to his creative process, as the interaction of these media with the surface can only be controlled up to a certain point. Wood grain visible through the color gives the works a highly tactile, painterly ductus; in allowing it to show, Elfgen’s works reveal an otherwise concealed element just outside of the immediately visible. The material becomes the substantial creative moment of the work and part of its motif in the form of clouds in the sky or waves on the water. The images materialize. Metallic particles in the spray paint add a shiny shimmer to the surfaces and constitute yet another Higgs boson reference, as the particle also emits a split-second, visible glow just before breaking down.

New abstract landscape paintings are joined by other works by Elfgen. They show figurative elements and found objects from nature, such as animals and ferns, or combine them in an atmospherically-charged form of collage. The main subject of his oeuvre—the relationship between humans and nature—is thus taken up and expanded, often on a metaphysical level. Depicted animals recall fantastic mythical creatures, further underscoring the images’ mystical character. Elfgen’s subject matter and materials create a cosmos in which nature and civilization intertwine. Together they show us the invisible in the visible, and enable us to see the world in a subtle, new light.