Into the light, 2002

Acclaimed for his range of contemporary paintings and large-scale sculptures, Ugo Rondinone is a mixed-media artist whose works often incorporate bright, fluorescent colours and iconographic images; his most notable work is his Seven Magic Mountains land-art sculpture comprised of seven, fluorescently- painted totems of large, limestone boulders stacked to reach a maximum height of 32ft. Rondinone’s paintings often feature several brightly coloured, concentric rings that form a target shape – his Small Sun series of paintings succinctly exemplify this particular trademark and simultaneously evoke feelings of euphoria and reflection. In combining such psychedelic colours and various cliché phrases such as ‘Hell, Yes!’ throughout his work, Rondinone is exploring the world around him and his place and identity within it and has stated that “I see art-making as a ritual, a meditation for myself...The energy of art is that you can spend time with yourself.”