Ugo Rondinone

During walks around Vienna last summer, Ugo Rondinone made a number of drawings, picking out windows and architectural details from the city’s buildings. For my endless numbered days, these have been transferred, onto white canvas to create a series of beautifully delicate, iconic paintings. On the reverse of each canvas are images cut from The New York Times on the date each painting was made. The blunt reality of these images creates a jolt after the delicate fairytale like musings of a fl⮥ur in the city.

The casual installation of these airy, wistful paintings together with a group of simple sculptures, based on the choreographing of different units, reflects the idea of hours idled away. The works evoke the pleasure of time that doesn’t necessarily have to be filled - the ideal conditions for having ideas and making art.

cigarettesandwich at Sadie Coles HQ presents a new series of landscapes by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, his second show for the gallery.  Controlling every aspect of the tone of the space, with the windows covered up and the walls draped in Hessian, the gallery is transformed into a cocoon.  Within this stage setting we are engulfed by four huge Arcadian landscapes. The exquisite delicacy and detail of the black ink on paper drawings is off-set by their scale. The density of the images render the negative landscapes threateningly impenetrable, but like the lost children of fairy tales, curiosity draws us in.

Like all of Rondinone’s work, the landscapes reflect the artist’s interest in disrupting boundaries, be they physical, mental, biological or social, thereby questioning the tenuous and subjective nature of stability.  This disquieting installation, like Rondinone’s target paintings, gender-transformation photo-pieces, or the sentimental slogans of the neon text works, reasserts his ability to upset our equilibrium, making us question our powers of perception and reconsider our need for neat compartmentalisation.

1964 Born in Brunnen, Switzerland
1986-90 Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Lives and works in New York

Solo Exhibitions

2007 52nd International Art Exhibition Biennale, Venice, Italy (with Urs
Fischer)
Ugo Rondinone, Arario Seoul, Seoul, Korea
Ugo Rondinone, air gets into everything even nothing & get up girl a sun is running the world, Art on the Plaza presented by Creative Time, New York
2006 Ugo Rondinone Giorni Felici, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
Ugo Rondinone on Butterfly Wings, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
my endless numbered days, Sadie Coles HQ, London
Unday, Galerie Esther Schipper, Berlin
Ugo Rondinone – Thank you Silence, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
a waterlike still, Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössischer Kunst, Münster
zero built a nest in my navel, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
2005 Sunsetsunrise, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2004 Raucci / Santamaria Gallery, Naples, Italy
Long Gone Sole, Matthew Marks Gallery, New york
Nothing Has Changed, Gruppe Oesterreichische Guggenheim, Austria
Clockwork for Oracle, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
Long Nights Short Years, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
2003 Roundelay, Pompidou Centre, Paris
La criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes, France
Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Moonrise, Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Our Magic Hour, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Lessness, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
2002 The Dancer and the Dance, Galerie Krobath+Wimmer, Vienna
Cigarettesandwich, Sadie Coles HQ, London
No How On, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
A Horse with No Name, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Our Magic Hour, Centre for Contemporary Visual Arts, University of Brighton Gallery, Brighton, England
Coming up for Air, Württemburgischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
1988, Works on Paper Inc., Los Angeles
2001 Slow Graffiti, Galerie Schipper & Krome, Berlin
FRAC Paca, Marseille, France
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome
Yesterday’s Dancer, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Dreams and Dancers, Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya, Israel
If There Were Anywhere But Desert, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
2000 So Much Water Close to Home, P.S.1, New York
Love Invents Us, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Hell Yes!, Sadie Coles HQ, London
If There Were Anywhere But Dessert, Mont Blanc Boutique,
New York
In the Sweet Years Remaining, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
A Double Day and a Past Time, Galerie Raucci/Santamaria, Naples, Italy
1999 Guided by Voices, (curated by Jan Winkelmann), Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Guided by Voices, (curated by Beatrix Ruf), Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
Moonlighting, Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Light of Fallen Stars, Yves Saint Laurent, New York
In the Sweet Years Remaining, Schipper & Krome, Berlin
1998 The Evening Passes Like Any Other, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
In the Sweet Years Remaining, Galerie João Graça 1991, Lisbon
So Much Water so Close to Home, Krobath & Wimmer, Vienna
1997 Moonlight & Aspirin, Galleria Bonomo, Rome
Stillsmoking, Galerie Raucci/Santamaria, Naples, Italy
Where Do We Go from Here?, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
Tender Places Come from Nothing, Cato Jans Der Raum, Hamburg, Germany
1996 Heyday, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Dogdays Are Over, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
Le Case d’Arte, Milan, Italy
1995 Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland
Migrateurs, ARC - Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Meantime, Galerie Froment-Putman, Paris
1994 Galerie Six Friedrich, Munich, Germany
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
Galerie Ballgasse, Vienna
Centre d’Art Contemporain de Martigny, Martigny, Switzerland
1992 Pastime, Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland
1991 Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland
Galerie Pinx, Oskar Schmidt, Vienna
Galerie Martina Detterer, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
1989 Galerie Pinx, Oskar Schmidt, Vienna
1987 Raum für Aktuelle Schweizer Kunst, Lucerne, Switzerland
1986 Sec 52, Rico Bilger, Zurich, Switzerland
1985 Galerie Marlene Frei, Zurich, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions

2007 52. Biennale di Venezia, Chiesa di San Stae, Campo di San Stae, Santa Croce, Venice, Italy
Zu Gironcoli, eine Hommage, Gironcoli Museum, Herberstein, Germany
2006 Having New Eyes, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, (CO)
Winteraustellung, Esther Schipper, Berlin
Melancholia, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Inner Go Go, Valmili, Athens
2005 Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago (cat.)
Prague Biennale, Prague
Chambres àPart, curated by Laurence Dreyfus, Hotel Sezz, Paris
Fragile, Galerie Analix Forever, Geneva
2004 The realm of the senses, James Cohan Gallery, New York
Museum Löffler, Kosice
Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Modern Art, Pittsburgh (PA)
Works and Days, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
Schoner Wohnen, Centre for Contemporary Art, Waregem, Belgium
Fundament , Lustwarande 04, Tilburg, Netherlands
Nothing Has Changed, Guggenheim Gruppe Osterreich, Wien, Austria
Hard Light, P.S. 1, New York
Ugo Rondinone Les Krims, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Lasko – Wall painting en Suisse, Centre d’art de Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
Memorable Memory, Migros Museum Collection, Neue Kunst Halle St. Gallen, Switzerland
I Am The Walrus, Cheim & Read, New York
Eden, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Botoga,
Sculptures Show, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
La Grande Parade: Portrait of the Artist as a Clown, Grand Palais, Paris; touring to Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Canada
Genesis Sculpture – Experience Pommery #1, Domaine Pommery, France
2003 Breathing the Water, Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Le Monde Selon Francois Dubois, Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Sculpture, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Biennale d’art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Stiftung Binz 39, Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstpanoram, Luzern, Switzerland
Love, Magazin4 Vorarlberger Kunstverein + Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria
Lee 3 Tau Ceti Central Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice, France
The DaimlerChrysler Collection, Museum Fur Neue Kunst ZKM Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Denmark
Tapas e Video, Video by bvb, Moph Café, Tokyo
Story Faces, Galerie Mirko Mayer, Koln, Germany
Carosseries, Automobiles, Art, Architectures, La Galerie Du Petit Chateau, Sceaux, France
Not Neutral: Contemporary Swiss Photography, Grey Art Gallery, New York
Collustre, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Psychodrome 04, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain
Urban Diaries, Young Artists from Switzerland, Alcala 31, Madrid
Durchzug / Draft, Kunstalle Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2002 Je t’aime… moi non plus, Halle au Poisson, Perpignan, France
I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Stadtische Galerie Villingen Schwenningen, Villingen Schwenningen, Denmark
Ottonella Mocellin, Paola Di Bello, Ugo Rondinone, In Alto Arte Sui Ponteggi, Milan, Italy
Loop: back to the Beginning, Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati (OH)
Octopus, Bruge, Belgium
I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Hallescher Kunstverein, Halle, Germany
Lowland Lullaby, Swiss Institute, New York
De Gustibus: Collezione Privata Italiana , Pallazzo delle Papesse Centro D’art Contemporanea, Siena, Italy
Frenetic Interferences – A presentation of Memory / Cage Editions, Art Publishers Zurich, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Bienvenue Willkommen Welcome @ Altkirch, CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, France
Zeitgenössische Fotokunst aus der Schweiz, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
Jour de Cirque, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, Monte Carlo
Drawing Now – Eight Propositions, MoMA QNS, Long Island City (NY)
Self / In material Conscience, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Campy, Vampy, Tacky, Centre D’art Contemporain, Rennes, France
The House of Fiction, Sammlung Hauser und Wirth, Lokremise St. Gallen, Switzerland
Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, Museum of Modern Art, New York (cat.)
2001 Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, England
Galerie Krobath Wimmer, Vienna
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition: 100 Drawings and Photographs, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Printemps de Septembre: Fantastique, Toulouse, France
Loop - Alles auf Anfang, Kunsthalle der Hypokulturstiftung, Munich, Germany
Mouvements Immobiles, Museu de Arte Moderna, Buenos Aires
Salons de Musique, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
Surface Lisse, Musée de la Photographie, Mougins, France
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Dai, Dai, Dia, Where Do We Go From Here? Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst, Amsterdam
Fingerspitzengefühl – der Menschliche Körper in der Gegenwartskunst, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Gestes, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
Movements Immobiles, Musee D’art Modern, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Let’s Entertain, Miami Art Museum, Miami
Let’s Entertain, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Denmark
Sammlung DaimlerChrysler: Neuerwerbungen/New Acquisitions, Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, Berlin
2000 Let’s Entertain, Musee National Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou, Paris
Landschaftsräume, Neuer Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Life after the Squirrel, Location One, New York
Face à Face, Kunstpanorama, Lucerne, Switzerland
Heart, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Come In and Find Out, vol. 4, (curated by Klara Wallner), Podewil, Berliner Kunstveranstaltungs, Berlin
Le Jeu des 7 Familles, Mamco: Le Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Une Mise en Scène du Réel: Artiste / Acteur, Villa Arson, Nice, France
Premio Michetti, (curated by Gianni Romano), Fondazione Michetti, Francavilla al Mare, Italy
Volume: Bed of Sound, P.S.1, New York
Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Présumé innocent, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux,
Bordeaux, France
Over the edges, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent, Belgium
Video Positive 2000 - the other side of zero, Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool, England
Let’s Entertain, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis (MN)
Let’s Entertain, Portland Art Museum, Portland (OR)
Mecaniste, KIAD, Canterbury, England
Under the Same Sky, KIASMA, Helsinki
Living in The Real World, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
Ich ist estwas anderes, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany
Eurovision, Saatchi Gallery, London
1999 L’autre sommeil, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Sans reserve 1, Musée de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
The Passion and the Wave, (curated by Paolo Colombo), 6th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul
Missing Link, (curated by Christoph Doswald), Kunstmuseum Bern, Berne
D A CH, Galerie Krinzinger im Benger Park, Bregenz, Austria
Trans sphère, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, France
Spillerom, Lofoten Arts festival, Svolvær, Norway
Le Repubbliche dell’arte, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, Italy
Trouble Spot. Painting, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
Spillerom, Lofoten Arts Festival, Svolvaer, Norway
Signs of Life, 1st Melbourne International Biennial, Melbourne, Australia
Rosa für Jungs/Hellblau für mädchen, NGBK, Berlin
Xn99, Espace des Art, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
1998 Dogdays Are Over, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
Time after time, Emily Tsingou Gallery, London
Auf der Spur-Kunst der 90er Jahre im spiegel von schweizer sammlungen, Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Weather everything, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
A Streetwalk Named Desire, Lucerne, Switzerland
Berlin/Berlin, (curated by Nancy Spector, Klaus Bisenbach, Hans-Ulrich Obrist), Berlin Biennial, Berlin
Libera Mente, Palazzo del Capitano, Cesena, Italy
Matthew Marks Gallery, (with Joseph Grigely and Millie Wilson), New York
Kunstaustellung Holderbank, Holderbank, Switzerland
From the Corner of the Eye Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Nonchalance Revisited: Junge Schweizer Kunst, (curated by Christoph Doswald), Akademie der Kunste, Berlin
Grenzenlos, Art Club Berlin as guest in the Mies van der Rohe pavilion, Barcelona, Spain
4 Internationale Foto-Triennale, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany
Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
Don’t Look Now, Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland
Homo Zappiens Zappiens, Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
AIDS Worlds, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Altered States, Utrecht, Netherlands
1997 Foto Relations, Kunsthaus, Brünn, Austria
Rear window, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
Fort! Da! Cooperations, Villa Merkel, Esslingen
Disaster and Recovery, The Swiss Institute, New York
Why don’t we do it in the road, Cato Jans Der Raum, Hamburg, Germany
Diskland Snowscape, (curated by Harm Lux), Shed im Eisenwork, Frauenfeld, Switzerland
504, Ausstellungsprojekt der Klasse Armleder, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig, Germany
Festival Atlantico, Lisbon
Galleria Nazionale d’arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (with Jessica Diamond)
Transit, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Landschaft heute, Talmuseum, Engelberg, Switzerland
Ruhm und Ehre, Galerie der Stadt Schwaz im Palais Enzenberg, Schwaz, Austria
Dramatically Different, Le Magasin, Grenoble, France
1996 Nonchalance, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
Where do we go from here?, Biennale Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Young Art: Forum der jungen Schweizer Kunst - 50 Jahre providential, Kunsthalle, Berne
Non! Pas comme ça!, Centre d’Art Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Conversation pieces II, ICA, Philadelphia (PA)
The aggression of beauty, Galerie Arndt & Partner, Berlin
Macht der Verfuhrung, Interims Kunsthalle, Berlin
Cabines de bain, Attitude, Fribourg, Germany
Radikale Bilder, Neue Galerie und Künstlerhaus, 2nd Österreich Triennale zur Fotografie, Graz, Austria
Radikale Bilder, Kunsthalle Szombathely, Szombathely, Hungary
Modèles Corrigés, College Marcel Duchamp, Châteauroux, France
1995 Files, Bunker 4th floor, Berlin
The Pleasure of Merely Circulating, Memory/Cage Edition, Zurich, Switzerland
Livres D’Artistes, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Landshaft mit dem blick der 90er Jahre, Mitterheinmuseum, Koblenz, Germany
Landschaft der 90erJahre, Museum Schlossburg a.d. Saale, Berlin
Landschaft der 90er Jahre, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
Fields, (curated by Harm Lux), Zypressenstrasse 71, Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany
Entrée en Matière, Ecole Supériere d’Arts Visuel, Lausanne, Switzerland
Oh Pain, Oh Life, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Private Welten, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland
1994 Snow Job, (curated by Lionel Bovier), Forde, Geneva, Switzerland

Kunsthalle Palazzo Liestal, (with A Schneider, F Valloton), Liestal, Switzerland
Passing Through, (curated by Ugo Rondinone), Galerie Walchturm, Zurich, Switzerland
Lokalzeit - Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, (curated by Peter Weibel), Raum Strohal, Vienna
Endstation Sehnsucht, Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Oh boy, it’s a girl!, Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
Oh boy, it’s a girl!, Messepalast Wien, Vienna
Steirischer Herbst, (curated by Paolo Bianchi), Graz, Austria
Suspension, Fotohof Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
Suspension, Fotoforum, Innsbruck, Austria
Galerie im Taxipalais, Innsbruck, Austria
1993 Papierarbeiten & einige Skulpturen, Galerie Six Friedrich, Munich, Germany
Changing I, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
Prospect 93, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
Hellbound, Centre d’Art Contemporain Martigny, Martigny, Switzerland
Serial, Michelle Nicol Shop, Zurich, Switzerland
Donau, Mucsarnok, Salamon Torony, Visegard, Hungary
Die Sprache der Kunst, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
1992 Die Sprache der Kunst, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Vienna
Kunstmuseum Luzern, (with U Fischer, C. di Gallo), Lucerne, Switzerland
Oh! Cet écho!, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
1991 20 fragile pieces, Galerie B & L Polla-Annalix, Geneva, Switzerland
Chamer Räume, Cham, Switzerland
Über dem Röstigraben, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany
1990 Stillstand Switches, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
1989 Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Igitur, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
Weihnactsausstellung, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
1988 Spiel der spur, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
1987 Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon, Switzerland
1986 Galerie M2, Vevey
1985 Weihnachstausstellung, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Junge Schweizer, (with U.Frei and D. Zimmermann), Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland

Projects

2004LVMH Headquarter Avenue Montaigne, Paris
Dior Homme New York

Awards and Grants

1998.99Werkjahr P.S.1, New York
Bundesamt für Kultur, Berne
1998 Schweizer Plakat des Jahres 1998: Eidgenössicher Preis für Freie Kunst
1997-98 Werkjahr New York der Stadt Zurich
1995 Eidgenössicher Preis für Freie Kunst
1994 Eidgenössicher Preis für Freie Kunst
1993 Kiefer - Hablitzel Stipendium
1991 Eidgenössicher Preis für Freie Kunst
Kiefer-Hablitzel Stipendium
Kantonales Werkjahr

Editions

1999 Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
1998 Parkett No.52, Zurich, Switzerland
1997 Portfolio, Galerie Walcheturm + Galerie Hauser & Wirth 2, Zurich, Switzerland
1997 Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
1996 Memory/Cage Edition, Zurich, Switzerland
1992 Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
1991 Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, Switzerland

Collections

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Saatchi Gallery, London
Fondo Cotti, Lugano, Switzerland
Bank Julius Barr & Co AG, Zurich, Switzerland
Budesamt für kultur, Berne
Schweiz, Ruckversicherungsgeseltschaft, Zurich, Switzerland
FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, France
FRAC Nord, Pas de Calais, France
Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
MigrosMuseum, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
FRAC Languedoc-Rousillon, Montpellier, France
Musée d’Art Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
Bank Sarasin, Basel, Switzerland
EVN Sammlung, Vienna
Graphische Sammlung der ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Sammlung Hauser und Wirth, St.Gallen, Switzerland