Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh

June 28–August 26, 2017

The exhibition features clowns and rainbows, but it's not just clowning around—Swiss artist Rondinone's work is both exuberant and melancholy.

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Ugo Rondinone: vocabulary of solitude, 2014–16; milled foam, epoxy resin, and fabric, forty-five parts; dimensions variable; private collection, courtesy of Frahm & Frahm.

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Wednesday, June 28, 6 PM
Lee Plested on Ugo Rondinone, in Conversation with Lawrence Rinder

A presentation and open discussion on the work of Ugo Rondinone in conjunction with his exhibition the world just makes me laugh.

BAMPFA
Wednesday, June 28, 6 PM
Cancelled—Artist’s Talk: Ugo Rondinone

The artist behind the world just makes me laugh talks about themes of wonder, sadness, and the sublime in his work.

BAMPFA
Saturday, June 3, 1–5 PM
Rainbow Afternoon: Drawing Workshops for Kids

Create colorful drawings of rainbows in an artist-led workshop. Your art could be shown in BAMPFA’s Ugo Rondinone exhibition this summer!

BAMPFA

Past Films

Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh

June 28–August 26, 2017

Forty-five life-size, highly realistic clown sculptures, from Rondinone’s installation ...

Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh incorporates imagery and themes from popular culture as well as drawing inspiration from historical art movements such as Romanticism and Surrealism. Seemingly lighthearted motifs including rainbows, clowns, and clown shoes take on a melancholy tone in this riveting and psychologically intense installation. Rondinone’s nuanced use of space, scale, color, and pose contribute to a brooding sense of the sublime. The joy and wonder of children’s drawings of rainbows, for example, are counterbalanced by the formal and emotional weight of the sheer number of images.

Forty-five life-size, highly realistic clown sculptures, from Rondinone’s installation vocabulary of solitude, form the exhibition’s centerpiece. Festively attired, with closed eyes and expressionless faces, these figures suggest at once a sense of euphoria and a state of melancholy. For Rondinone, the clowns collectively “represent one person in solitary activity within an enclosed space.” He writes:
"each single clown is named in the present tense after one solitary activity:
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.wank.feel.
moan.enjoy.float.love.hope.
wish.sing.dance.fall.curse.
yawn.undress.lie.”

The BAMPFA exhibition also features several related works, including Rondinone’s sixty-drawing series 1998; four pairs of clown shoes; eight large-scale paintings from the artist’s sun series; an oversized lightbulb sculpted from wax; and thousands of drawings of rainbows made by children from all over the world, including Berkeley.

Born in Brunnen, Switzerland, in 1964, Rondinone lives and works in New York City. Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh is his first solo museum exhibition in the Bay Area.

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Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh is organized by BAMPFA Director and Chief Curator Lawrence Rinder. The exhibition is made possible with support from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia; Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich/New York; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco.

Supporter

Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia

Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh

June 28–August 26, 2017

Past Events

Lee Plested on Ugo Rondinone, in Conversation with Lawrence Rinder

Cancelled—Artist’s Talk: Ugo Rondinone

Rainbow Afternoon: Drawing Workshops for Kids

Past Films