A large black-and-white banner featuring a court jester by the artist George Condo is currently up on the façade of the Metropolitan Opera House. The image advertises the Met’s new production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,’’ which opens there on Monday, and also an art show, “George Condo’s Jesters,’’ also opening on Monday, at Gallery Met, the seven-year-old space in the south lobby of the opera house.
Mr. Condo, whose paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints were the subject of a survey show at the New Museum last year, is known for his outlandish figurative images. For Gallery Met, he has created nine new ink-on-paper drawings of jesters to coincide with the production of Rigoletto, which tells the story of a court jester whose life unravels after his insults go a bit too far. “I’ve been painting clowns since 1985 - my favorite archetypal American hero-loser,’’ Mr. Condo said in a statement describing the drawings.
The show is on view through May 11th.
