Ugo Rondinone

Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples
Private Collection, Bologna
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Naples, Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Stillsmoking, 1997
Vienna, Kunsthalle Vienna, No How On, 2002, n.p., illustrated
London, Whitechapel Gallery, Ugo Rondinone: Zero Built a Nest in My Navel, 2006, p. 80, installation view, p. 131, illustrated in colour

Beatrix Ruf, Ed., Ugo Rondinone: Guided by Voices, Ostfildern 2000, p. 33-34, installation image

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality towards the center is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals some tension cracks running intermittently along the extreme outer edge. Further close inspection reveals three areas of extremely thin hairline cracks; one to the center of the right edge, one towards the center of the composition and one towards the upper left edge. Some dust particles have settled on the upper edge and there are some media accretions on the lower edge. There is a short scratch towards the upper part of the orange band, on the lower half of the composition, which has been stabilised on the reverse. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Ugo Rondinone’s practice is characterised by an irreverence and multiplicity that has given his work a widespread appeal over the past decades. In his genre-defying artistic output which swiftly moves between mediums and styles, the artist’s target paintings have become one of the most iconic bodies of work. Titled after the date of its creation in German (15 August 1997), Rondinone evokes the conceptual approach to painting of On Kawara, whilst the captivating concentric bands of vibrant green, orange, blue and red reference a long-standing formalist interest of artists like Kenneth Noland. The hazy and blurry effect of the spray-paint simultaneously undermines the clean language of abstract art - in particular the clear-cut outlines of minimalism and hard-edge painting of the 1960s. Instead, the target paintings produce an intriguing blend of references to historical abstraction that are simultaneously denied by their undefined presence. In Andrea Tarsia’s words: “Underlying all Rondinone’s work is a tension between interior essence and exterior appearance … Hypnotic target paintings, rendered in hazy concentric circles of vivid colour, induce feelings of meditative or transcendental reflection. Yet the surface of his target paintings is flat and blurred, a depthless plane that contradicts the absorptive qualities they promise. This disparity is amplified by the many references the work evokes. Played out at both visual and linguistic levels, they constantly refer to something other than the works themselves. They evoke but do not reconcile personal and cultural expression, individual artistic practice and a wider aesthetic discourse” (Andrea Tarsia, Exhibition Catalogue, London, Whitechapel Gallery, Ugo Rondinone: Zero Built a Nest in My Navel, 2006, p.273). This constant play on unfulfilled expecations, manifested through a visually powerful and captivating formal appearance, make the target paintings a crucial part of Ugo Rondinone’s elusive practice.