This week’s studio Sunday artist is Ugo Rondinone! Born in Switzerland, Rondinone came to New York in 1998 and lives and works there currently. The artist is known for his colourful mixed-media artworks that blur the line between reality and imagination.

Rondinone’s studio looks suitably fun and playful in this photo. The artist often works on a larger scale, creating sculptural installations in large, choppy or bulbous forms. There’s interesting contrast between the large foam bust that the artist is working on, and the matching painting on the wall. Are these two separate works, or is the wall work serving as a draft of the face that will eventually be painted on the bust? If so, that’s quite an interesting way of working! Maybe the wall painting is a remnant of an older project that now serves as inspiration.

I like how the whole space is littered with pieces of foam that Rondinone has cut away from the bust. It’s great to see an artist able to work freely and create a big mess in a space. Overall, the artist’s studio has a large, somewhat industrial feel to it, quite different from the clean lines and bright colour of the artist’s works. Rondinone works in a wide variety of media and often uses found objects in his installations – he must have a space for storing these types of objects, as well as various tools for working with different media.

One of Rondinone’s most recent project involved a series of life-like sculptures of clowns in full, colourful costumes. I wonder what the studio would have looked like while he was working on this project – probably quite spooky at night. 

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