Specially designed box containing a series of five books conceived by the New York–based Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, published over two years to accompany a cycle of exhibitions devoted to works inspired by the color spectrum, with the centerpiece being Vocabulary of Solitude, forty-five life-size sculptures of clowns. Limited edition of 100 copies, box set signed by the artist.
With their different postures, the clowns from Vocabulary of Solitude represent activities of everyday life, at the same time expressing the anguish of human solitude: be, breathe, sleep, dream, wake, rise, sit, hear, look, think, stand, walk, pee, shower, dress, drink, fart, shit, read, laugh, cook, smell, taste, eat, clean, write, daydream, remember, cry, nap, touch, feel, moan, enjoy, float, love, hope, wish, sing, dance, fall, curse, yawn, undress, lie. In the presentations in Miami, Rotterdam, Rome, Cincinnati, and Berkeley, the mannequins' apparent isolation and introspection triggered extreme audience interaction and engagement. Solitude was defied, if only for a moment.
The box set contains the following publications:
Good Evening Beautiful Blue,
The World Just Makes Me Laugh,
Let's Start This Day Again,
Golden Days & Silver Nights, and
Vocabulary of Solitude.
Published following exhibitions “Vocabulary of Solitude” at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, from February 13 to May 29, 2016; “Giorni d'oro + Notti d'argento” at Mercati di Traiano and Museo dei Fori Imperiali, and at MACRO Museum, Rome, from June 10 to September 11, 2016; “Let's Start This Day Again” at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, from May 6 to August 20, 2017; “The World Just Makes Me Laugh” at the Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive from June 28 to August 26, 2017; and “Good Evening Beautiful Blue” at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami, from October 29,2017, to March 25, 2018.
Ugo Rondinone (*1963, Switzerland) has lived in New York for several years. Using photography, video, painting, drawing, sculpture, sound, and text by turns, Rondinone is a virtuoso of forms and techniques.
Developing surprising sensorial environments, he especially likes destabilizing our perceptions and unsettling our certainties. Rearranging content and formal elements, a personal poetic with elements taken directly from the outside world, he draws us into a synesthetic experience.
See also
Palais #22 – Ugo Rondinone – I Love John Giorno;
Bomb #140;
Album – On/around the work of Urs Fischer, Yves Netzhammer, Ugo Rondinone and Christine Streuli.
