Ugo Rondinone

Who is Ugo Rondinone?

Ugo Rondinone is a New-York based mixed-media artist whose works explore themes of fantasy and desire. Many of his pieces coax the viewer into a meditative state like the blurred, brightly colored, concentric rings of his target-shaped paintings; or his strictly black and white landscapes of gnarled trees that seem to bristle with energy. His large rainbow signs are just as enigmatically alluring with their imperative affirmations of “Hell, Yes!” or “Our Magic Hour.” These signs seem to point to some hidden aspect of our reality and history. One sign, “Dog Days Are Over,” proclaims an end to a period of turmoil, but what that period is remains unclear. The signs encapsulate and make palpable an unnamed collective desire, and, in turn, inspire a new one: to understand why this hour, for example, is so magical.

Rondinone studied at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, from 1986 to 1990. He has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museo de Art Contemporaneo, Leon, Spain; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; and Sculpture Center, New York. In 2007, he represented Switzerland in the Venice Biennale. His works are in the collections of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, among others.