Ugo Rondinone

Ugo Rondinone(Contemporary art daily)

      Contemporary Art Daily did a review on Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone's latest exhibit at Eva Presenhuber gallery. Rondinone showed his new body of work which consists of a flock of thirty birds sculpted no larger then 5 inches tall placed on the gallery floor facing various directions. The entire flock is grounded and were created with no wings and cast in heavy bronze, thus cannot fly(other then them being sculptures, of course). The birds most important attribute has now been stripped away. In a metaphorical context this could be viewed at as a desire for freedom or content, or feelings of confinement. Also in the exhibit, he continues working on similar ideas and showed wood panels with lines of poetry written on them. Lines such as "I am tired of my hands I want wings" lead us to believe he is indeed exploring emotions of desire and identity.

      In the last section of the gallery the artist displays six ten-foot by thirteen-foot ink drawings of Arcadian landscapes. Rondinone portrays these scenes that would normally be viewed at in sketchbooks as giant, large scale peices. He is attempting to create a physical relationship between the work and viewer, while also showing the works empathizing content.

      I found particular interest in his first two series of the birds and the panels of poetry. The last series of drawings felt a little pretentious and concept seemed weak. It could have been how the writer portrayed it or the actual piece of art, but I don't think the arts intent was to comment on the physical relationship between art and viewer. Many artists throughout history have made large scale works and it would be incorrect to say that these ones are specifically for phenomenal purposes(maybe I just have to see these person though, to actually see the content). However, I did like his first two series very much, he maintained an intriguing concept throughout his work and portrayed it very well. The metaphor of wings has been used as a cliche for freedom before, but I still feel his work is unique because he physically shows the struggle for flight and describes the desire for freedom. 

Some other work of Rondinone's I like.