Works by Ugo Rondinone
The Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has made an international name for himself as a conceptual, media and installation artist.
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The Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has made an international name for himself as a conceptual, media and installation artist.
Ugo Rondinone is a Swiss-born contemporary artist whose multifaceted body of work spans sculpture, painting, photography, video, sound, and installation. Born in 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland, to Italian immigrant parents, Rondinone has established himself as a leading figure in the international art world, known for his poetic, meditative, and often monumental creations. He currently lives and works in New York City, a base that reflects his global relevance and artistic reach.
Rondinone’s art is deeply rooted in themes of time, nature, solitude, and the human psyche. He is widely recognized for creating immersive environments and experiences that encourage introspection, emotional resonance, and sensory engagement. His work often oscillates between extremes—colorful exuberance and somber minimalism, the fantastical and the mundane, the natural and the artificial. This duality speaks to his ability to embrace contradictions and create space for complexity in art.
One of his most iconic and public-facing works is Seven Magic Mountains (2016), a large-scale land art installation located in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas. Composed of seven towering stacks of brightly colored boulders, the piece is both playful and contemplative, standing out starkly against the arid landscape. The installation serves as a metaphor for the collision of the natural and the artificial, the ancient and the contemporary, and has become a beloved landmark and social media sensation, drawing visitors from around the world.
Rondinone also frequently explores archetypal forms and universal symbols. His moonrise series, featuring oversized, expressive faces modeled after the lunar phases, or his clockwork for oracles installations with silent, room-sized clocks, evoke ideas of cyclicality, mortality, and the passage of time. These motifs are often stripped of specific narrative content, inviting viewers to project their own meanings and emotions.
Another central theme in Rondinone’s practice is solitude and melancholy, often explored through minimal, monochromatic environments and poetic titles. His Vocabulary of Solitude (2014), for instance, features life-sized clowns frozen in various postures of waiting, resting, or simply existing. Dressed in colorful costumes but captured in pensive stillness, these figures create a tension between joy and sadness, spectacle and introspection.
Literature and language are also significant influences in Rondinone’s art. Many of his titles are drawn from poems, particularly those of the Beat poets and other 20th-century writers. Words and text-based works—such as neon signs declaring phrases like “Breathe, Walk, Die” or “Our Magic Hour”—are used sparingly but powerfully, functioning as modern mantras or emotional signposts.
Despite—or perhaps because of—the breadth of his output, Rondinone maintains a consistent artistic vision. Whether through a vibrant rainbow-colored circle or a room filled with blackened tree sculptures, his work invites viewers into a world where emotion and perception are heightened, and the everyday is transformed into the extraordinary. His ability to combine aesthetic beauty with philosophical depth makes him one of the most compelling artists working today.
Ugo Rondinone’s art is not merely to be viewed; it is to be felt and experienced. Through a unique blend of formal innovation, emotional honesty, and spiritual contemplation, he continues to challenge and expand the boundaries of contemporary art.
Education:
1986–1990 Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna
Awards
1995 Swiss Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, Switzerland
1994 Swiss Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, Switzerland
1991 Swiss Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, Switzerland
Solo Exhibitions (selection):
2022 Ugo Rondinone, Life Time. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany.
2020 poetry, The National Exemplar, Iowa City
2019 everyone gets lighter, Kunsthalle Helsinki
sunny days, Guild Hall, East Hamptons
2018 the radiant, MICAS – Malta International Contemporary Art Space, Floriana
your age and my age and the age of the sun, Fondación Casa Wabi, Mexico City
2017 let’s start this day again, CAC Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
your age and my age and the age of the rainbow, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
vocabulary of solitude, ARKEN – Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj
moonrise. east. july, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen
good evening beautiful blue, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach
the world just makes me laugh, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley
2016 giorni d’oro + notti d’argento, MACRO Testaccio and the Mercati di Traiano, Rome
Seven Magic Mountains, Art Production Fund and Nevada Museum of Art, Desert of Nevada
vocabulary of solitude, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
moonrise sculptures, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
miami mountain, permanent installation, The Bass Museum, Miami
becoming soil, Carré d’Art, Nîmes
2015 golden days and silver nights, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2014 breathe walk die, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
naturaleza humana, Museo Anahuacalli Mexico, Mexico City
2013 we run through a desert in burning feet, all of us are glowing our faces look twisted, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
human nature, Public Art Fund, Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
thank you silence, M Museum, Leuven
2012 wisdom? peace? blank? all of this?, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
nude, Cycladic Art Museum, Athens
primitive, The Common Guild, Glasgow
2010 die nacht aus blei, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
sunrise east, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle
2009 the night of lead, MUSAC, Léon
2008 clockwork for oracles II, Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
2006 zero built a nest in my navel, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2004 long night short years, Le Consortium, Dijon
clockwork for oracle, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
2003 roundelay, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris
our magic hour, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2002 no how on, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
2001 dreams and dramas, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya
kiss tomorrow goodbye, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome
2000 so much water so close to home, MoMa PS1, New York, NY
in the sweet years remaining, Museum Aarhus, Aarhus.
© 2025 - Frank Fluegel Galerie
Obere Wörthstrasse 12 / 90403 Nürnberg / Germany / +49 911 23737500
Josef-Pirchl-Straße 6 / 6370 Kitzbühel / Austria
© 2025 - Frank Fluegel Galerie
Obere Wörthstrasse 12
90403 Nürnberg
Germany
+49 911 23737500
Josef-Pirchl-Straße 6
6370 Kitzbühel
Austria
