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Lot Essay
'Rondinone's TARGET paintings seem at first to be straight appropriations of American Pop, color-field, and hard-edge abstraction. In fact, these works are less copies than giddy impersonations their irony and impurity coming through their deceptively simple surfaces like a five o'clock shadow on a drag queen. Slightly blurred and clearly vibrating as if electric, these Kenneth-Nolands-on-parade jiggle and cavort' (L. Hoptman, Against Nature, Parkett 52, 1998, p. 134).
Shockingly yellow, ersteraprilzweitausendunddreizehn from 2013, protrudes into the viewer's space while remaining a flat acrylic on canvas work. When confronted with the crisply feathered contours of the sunshine yellow hue, the viewer is hypnotized by the vivid color and true flatness. However, the colorist arrangement of concentric circles appears to glow giving way to an illusion of a concave plane. Compositionally, Rondinone recalls the color field, Abstract Expressionism of Kenneth Noland while evoking the dimensionality produced by Anish Kapoor.
Though while importing some of the visual vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism, Rondinone does so not only as a means of appropriation, but does so as a rebuke against the movement. Opposing the automatism of both the action and color field painters, the artist applies acrylic paint through a spray can. There is no personal trace of the artist, no cigarette butts left in the piece, it is a complete detachment. It is with this detached sense of irony that Rondinone has created a work which dismisses the solutions reached by his predecessors in a humorous and playful manner.
The intrusive confrontation of Rondinone's canvas forces the viewer to address the duality proposed: the personal impressions of experiencing the work diverge from our awareness of the art historical allusions within which it is framed. Andrea Tarsia states "Underlying all Rondinone's work is a tension between interior essence and exterior appearance, enacted first of all in a disparity between form and content" (A. Tarsia, Ugo Rondinone Zero Built a Nest in my Navel exh. cat., London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 2005, p. 275). By addressing both the inner and outer worlds of being, the artist prevents the viewer from reaching a conclusion on the ultimate meaning, but he provides a transcendental experience filled with aesthetic resonance.
Rondinone's practice as an artist is so vast and varied it is often remarked that his exhibitions could be confused for a group show. Despite this collective aesthetic, there is a unique and unifying sensibility which bonds his divergent style and formal departures. His works confront the viewer to address subjectivity and the basic motifs of daily existence; anxiety, isolation, and the nature of being. The TARGET paintings specifically impose a personal internal experience by violating the viewer's space through illusion. The concentric blurred circles hypnotize and capture the viewer spiraling them into a world of self-reflection. At a time when seriousness is viewed with skepticism and distrust in the consciousness of young artists, Rondinone stands out in his willingness to probe the big issues of human existence and self-indulgence through humor.
Shockingly yellow, ersteraprilzweitausendunddreizehn from 2013, protrudes into the viewer's space while remaining a flat acrylic on canvas work. When confronted with the crisply feathered contours of the sunshine yellow hue, the viewer is hypnotized by the vivid color and true flatness. However, the colorist arrangement of concentric circles appears to glow giving way to an illusion of a concave plane. Compositionally, Rondinone recalls the color field, Abstract Expressionism of Kenneth Noland while evoking the dimensionality produced by Anish Kapoor.
Though while importing some of the visual vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism, Rondinone does so not only as a means of appropriation, but does so as a rebuke against the movement. Opposing the automatism of both the action and color field painters, the artist applies acrylic paint through a spray can. There is no personal trace of the artist, no cigarette butts left in the piece, it is a complete detachment. It is with this detached sense of irony that Rondinone has created a work which dismisses the solutions reached by his predecessors in a humorous and playful manner.
The intrusive confrontation of Rondinone's canvas forces the viewer to address the duality proposed: the personal impressions of experiencing the work diverge from our awareness of the art historical allusions within which it is framed. Andrea Tarsia states "Underlying all Rondinone's work is a tension between interior essence and exterior appearance, enacted first of all in a disparity between form and content" (A. Tarsia, Ugo Rondinone Zero Built a Nest in my Navel exh. cat., London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 2005, p. 275). By addressing both the inner and outer worlds of being, the artist prevents the viewer from reaching a conclusion on the ultimate meaning, but he provides a transcendental experience filled with aesthetic resonance.
Rondinone's practice as an artist is so vast and varied it is often remarked that his exhibitions could be confused for a group show. Despite this collective aesthetic, there is a unique and unifying sensibility which bonds his divergent style and formal departures. His works confront the viewer to address subjectivity and the basic motifs of daily existence; anxiety, isolation, and the nature of being. The TARGET paintings specifically impose a personal internal experience by violating the viewer's space through illusion. The concentric blurred circles hypnotize and capture the viewer spiraling them into a world of self-reflection. At a time when seriousness is viewed with skepticism and distrust in the consciousness of young artists, Rondinone stands out in his willingness to probe the big issues of human existence and self-indulgence through humor.