About the Exhibition
For his group of works “sunrise. east.”, Rondinone assigned a head with characteristic, highly reduced facial features to represent each calendar month. The presentation invited to experience the different joys, adversities and emotions of a whole year in fast forward.
Larger than life and cast in shiny silver aluminium, the massive, two-metre-high sculptural heads are reduced to their facial expressions: With mouths agape, they gaze from small eyes, from friendly and naïve to sceptical, from surprised to eerie. They evoke a wide range of associations, from ritual masks and ghosts to the visual language of comics, emoticons, and memes. Visitors to the Städel Garden were invited to come face to face with all twelve creatures—and thus every month of the year—and to experience the various joys, adversities, and emotions of an entire year in fast forward.
In addition to sculpture, Ugo Rondinone’s oeuvre encompasses various media such as painting, video, and installation. The artist is especially well known for his works in public space, which he has been creating since the 1990s. In the spirit of ‘art for all’, he aims to reach a wide audience with his characteristic outdoor sculptures. In his poetic and conceptual works, Rondinone explores the contradictions of life, creating a dialogue between artificiality and nature, culture and society, eternity and transience.
Curator
Svenja Grosser (Head of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum)
Sponsor
Sponsored by
Freunde der Tat – Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V.
