Ugo Rondinone green white monk, 2024
2 x 18 x 18 cm (stone shelf)
The unique sculpture belongs to Ugo Rondinone’s body of work, nuns + monks. The sculpture is made of two parts – the body and the head – that form the basic shape of a human body wrapped in a cloak. Cast in bronze, the sculptures were conceived from limestone models. The work can be presented on an artist-designed shelf.
The sculptures in the series present themselves in an “archaic” beauty that brings to mind two other groups of works by the artist: the raw stone figures of Human Nature in Rockefeller Plaza, 2013, and the neon-colored stone mountains Seven Magic Mountains in the desert of Nevada, 2016. These groups are the study and enjoyment of naturally formed stones as objects of beauty and contemplation, and in turn generate personal, meditative states of looking in which the boundaries between the outside world and internally visualized spaces break down. In doing so, Rondinone makes sculptures of what it means and feels like to see, whether this is understood to be a physical or metaphysical phenomenon.