Ugo Rondinone - Contemporary Art Part I New York Monday, November 7, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Almine Rech Gallery, Paris

  • Exhibited

    Paris, Almine Rech Gallery, Ugo Rondinone: La Vie Silencieuse, September 12 – October 15, 2009

  • Catalogue Essay

    DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDNEUN (3. June 2009), 2009, startles the viewer with a magnificent, star-studded night. Once in the presence of something so emblematically eternal, our own existence is put into perspective. We are suddenly forced to contend with humanity’s reliance on forces beyond our control as a determining factor in our own fate. The present lot challenges us to reconcile an immersive experience with our received traditions through forcing them into coexistence. The work is part of the larger series, La Vie Silencieuse (The Silent Life), and in many ways stands in direct contrast to Rondinone’s earlier works. While equally absorbing in their visual splendor, there seems to be little relationship between the present work and his target paintings of concentric circles in psychedelic hues or his haunting black and white landscapes. Yet their definitive titles, which reveal each respective date of origin, hint at a thematic unity.

    Despite their stylistic dissimilarities, there are deep-seeded convergences in Rondinone’s many hands. Through playful interaction between title and visual, Rondinone successfully draws attention to the disparity between content and form, exterior appearance and interior essence. Each canvas’s individuality lies in the variations of each starry night on which they were conceived. They depend on the unique qualities of the evening in which the painting was created. The series, in effect, equates to a controlled experiment in which the dependent variable is the artistic product. The series’ varied celestial patterns lend each canvas its own individual rhythm and intensity. As a Twenty-First Century still-life, DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDNEUN (3. June 2009),2009embraces both an objective environment and an inner mental landscape, suspending and locating us in time and space.

7

DRITTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDNEUN (3. June 2009)

2009
acrylic on canvas, and plastic plaque
102 3/8 x 78 3/4 in. (260 x 200 cm)
Signed and dated “Ugo Rondinone 2009” on the stretcher.
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Estimate
$100,000 - 150,000 

Sold for $182,500

Contemporary Art Part I

7 November 2011
New York