In this documentary, director John McNaughton, famous (or infamous) for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990), draws an intimate portrait of the painter George Condo, a friend of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Born in 1957, Condo has been called the high priest of "artificial realism," which he defines as a "realistic representation of something that's artificial." The film also shows Condo at work in his Manhattan studio; it was shot with a High-8 (non-digital) home video camera which gave McNaughton the freedom of movement to capture close-ups of brush movements and other minute details. It was later transferred to 35mm. There is also footage of Burroughs and Ginsberg in Condo's studio shortly before they both died. Condo Painting is quite different from McNaughton's other work, which stretches from science fiction and live theatre documentaries to such star-studded studio features as Mad Dog and Glory to TV series such as Homicide and the 1998 sex thriller, Wild Things. Condo Painting was screened as part of the Filmmakers of the Present section in the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival.
~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide