Ugo Rondinone
Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964, Switzerland) is an internationally renowned contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, painting, drawing, video, and immersive installation. Currently based in New York, Rondinone is celebrated for creating contemplative spaces that explore the intersection of nature, time, and emotional experience.
His work is often rooted in symbolic systems—referencing elemental cycles such as sunrise and sunset, the lunar phases, and seasonal change. Through materials ranging from stone and aluminum to neon and glass, Rondinone creates visual languages that oscillate between the natural and the artificial. His compositions are striking in their simplicity yet layered with emotional and existential nuance.
A hallmark of his public art practice is Seven Magic Mountains (2016), a monumental installation of stacked, brightly colored rocks in the Nevada desert that merges land art traditions with a contemporary pop sensibility. Similarly, Human Nature (2013), commissioned for Rockefeller Plaza in New York, featured massive stone figures that evoked primal forms and a sense of grounding in the urban landscape.
His introspective installation Vocabulary of Solitude (2016, Palais de Tokyo, Paris) featured 45 life-size clown figures, each embodying a different state of being—highlighting his ongoing investigation into isolation, introspection, and the quiet intensity of human emotion.
Rondinone has exhibited in leading international institutions including the Tate Modern, the New Museum, and the Venice Biennale, with works held in the permanent collections of MoMA (New York), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), among others.
Through both permanent public sculptures and temporary installations, Rondinone continues to shape a unique space in contemporary art—one that is meditative, elemental, and emotionally resonant. His upcoming projects include new explorations of landscape-based installations and large-scale urban sculpture, further deepening his commitment to bridging art and the everyday.
Awards & Recognitions
- Swiss Art Award - Federal Office of Culture, Switzerland (1994)
- Prix Meret Oppenheim - Swiss Federal Art Award for outstanding achievement in contemporary art (2002)
- Public Art Fund Commission - For Human Nature at Rockefeller Center, New York (2013)
Notable Exhibitions
- Vocabulary of Solitude (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2016)
- Human Nature (Rockefeller Plaza, New York, USA, 2013)
- Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno (Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome / White Columns, New York, 2015)
