Ugo Rondinone
Ranging from installations and sculptures to psychedelic paintings and large-scale drawings, Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s eclectic practice explores the relationships between opposing forces—day and night, real and artificial, euphoria and depression. His hybridized forms, which borrow from ancient and modern cultural sources alike, exude pathos and humor, going straight to the heart of the most pressing issues of our time, where modernist achievement and archaic expression intersect.His most recognizable works are his colorful “Rocks” sculptures: vertically stacked rocks painted in fluorescent colors. Inspired by naturally occurring geological formations and the meditative art of rock balancing, Rondinone has built these large-scale artworks in public settings around Liverpool, Miami, and the Nevada desert.
Ugo Rondinone was born in 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland. He studied at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. In 1991, 1994, and 1995, Rondinone received the Swiss Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst. In 2007, Rondinone represented Switzerland at the 52nd Venice Biennale.
Rondinone's work is held in the collections of: The Bass Museum of Art, Miami; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Musée d'Art Contemporain, Strasbourg; Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Pompidou, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; New Museum, New York; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.
The artist currently lives and works in New York.