Ugo Rondinone 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 Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, from 1986-1990. He has been the subject major solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museo de Art Contemporaneo, Leon, Spain; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; and SculptureCenter, 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.

Selected bibliography

Rondinone, Ugo. No How On. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2002.

Tarsia, Andrea. Ugo Rondinone—zero built a nest in my navel. London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 2005.

External links

• Ugo Rondinone Extended Biog and Exhibition information
• http://www.eyewithwings.net/nechvatal/ThirdMind/wwwTHIRDMIND.htmArt review by Joseph Nechvatal
  Joseph Nechvatal
  Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...
  
  of Ugo Rondinone's THE THIRD MIND at Le Palais de Tokyo, Paris]