Artist Ugo Rondinone, born in Switzerland and currently living and working in New York, engages in photography, painting, sculpture, and video art. His works explore the connection between reality and imagination, with his approach aiming to reintroduce the desire to reimagine the world in a poetic manner into reality. Characteristic of his artistic world is ambiguity; his art evokes insecurity, disorientation, and sensory confusion.
Rondinone employs specific artistic strategies that disturb or even negate conventional modes of perception, sharpening the viewer’s gaze and blurring the boundaries of space, time, and self-identity.
One of his notable creations, “Human Nature” (2013), is a large-scale public art installation made for the Rockfeller Center in Manhattan. It features nine figures made of stone, standing like ancient rocks. Each figure has its own distinct character, collectively forming a kind of giant forest of beings. Their static legs allow passersby to move among them freely.
Another sculpture series by Rondinone is called “Moonrise” (2010), consisting of 12 environmental sculptures shaped like heads, made of textured aluminum. The sculptures are placed on a street in San Francisco, each bearing the artist’s handprint. The theme of time captivates Rondinone, and he expresses it in this work through the relationships between the moon, pride, humility, and the calendar. The sculptures in the series are dedicated to the moon and named after the months of the year. They are monumental, with faces that evoke empathy and wonder, smiling and grimacing as time passes.
In summary, sensory confusion within the dimension of time characterizes Rondinone’s art.
