Australia is known for it's "big things". Scattered across this country from east to west are giant sculptures, icons from a bygone era, backdrops to family photos and monuments for a fledgling nation's postcards and gift shops.

Childhood road trips would see the Condon family drive for days up the east coast of Australia, passing through towns with strange names; Wodonga, Dunedoo, Ettamogah. The young artist scribbling in the back of the car, windmills, grain silos and stockyards.

"There was a big dinosaur, a big sheep, a big orange, and the Big Banana".

In "big banana painting" the artist draws upon the work 'Uncertainty of the poet' by Giorgio de Chirico. In adapting the banana component of the Italian masterpiece Condon creates a fusion of high-art and satire, reflecting upon both his childhood holidays and enduring years of Art History theory at university.

The artist provided this further information:

In 'Banana Painting' the artist has appropriated a small detail from the work 'Uncertainty of the poet' by Giorgio De Chirico and painted it on a grand scale.

In 2012 whilst living abroad for a year, Condon visited the TATE Modern Museum of Art (in London), coincidently on the same day that a man jumped from the TATE balcony to his death. Condon recalled two colours from that day: the yellow of the bananas in Giorgio de Chirico 'Uncertainty of the poet' which he viewed in the gallery upstairs, and the bright blue of a plastic tarpaulin laying on the ground by the TATE entrance, accompanied by a white van and a policeman (which Condon later found out was covering a body).

In 2007 Condon experienced a trauma. At that time of grieving the artist painted his canvasses yellow, attempting to lift his spirits amongst uncertainty. Later in 2015 and 2014, two portraits by Condon were exhibited in the Archibald Prize, both works were 3/4 figures on a solid yellow field.

These experiences coalesce in 'Banana Painting'. Dislocating the bananas from their original source, transforming the metaphysical still-life into an iconic memorial, a thematic aligning of the artist's memories to create a poetic allegory for life and death.

Painting of a bunch of bananas, oil on canvas. Detail from the painting 'Uncertainty of the poet' by Giorgio de Chirico.