Artist: Ugo Rondinone

Alfonso Artiaco presents Ugo Rondinone’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, entitled ORA BLU. The solo show inaugurates the gallery’s new location at Palazzo Partanna, Piazza dei Martiri 58, Naples

Born in Brunnen, Switzerland, in 1964 and now based in New York, Ugo Rondinone is recognised as one of the most significant artists of his generation. His practice is distinguished by a deeply poetic language, where metaphorical and iconographic imagery converge in a meditation on time, nature, and human experience. Moving fluidly across sculpture, installation, video, and performance, Rondinone explores the intersection of modernity and archaism, precision and spontaneity, form and emotion. Suspended between pathos and irony, his works transform the everyday into a contemplative experience, inviting viewers into a space where memory and dream converge.

With “ORA BLU”, Rondinone further develops his signature immersive aesthetic, paying exclusive homage to one of Naples’ most iconic symbols: Vesuvius. In this series, deep, layered chromatic washes evoke the volcano’s imposing presence, capturing its ever-changing essence and poetic intensity. Colour, a fundamental element of his practice, becomes a vehicle for transition and transformation, translating the topography of the landscape into an intimate, universal dimension. This body of work marks a further evolution of his artistic language, reinforcing the ritualistic nature of his process and the organic, ever-expanding vocabulary of his visual lexicon.

The mural-like evocation of Vesuvius unfolds as a visual narrative, guiding the viewer through a temporal journey from day to night, mirroring the experience of those who walk through the space. The interplay of color and atmosphere creates a choral composition, an ode to contemplation, where shifting hues shape mood and perception. In this suspended space between reality and imagination, the landscape is transfigured, becoming an inner territory, a fragment of collective memory, an invitation to meditation.

Each work in “ORA BLU” bears the date of its creation, underscoring the bond between the artist’s gesture and the passage of time. This choice, stripped of any artifice, restores an essential purity to the work, opening a threshold through which the viewer may step into the intimate rhythm of the creative process. Beyond mere representation, these works evoke a deeper dimension, where nature, romanticism, and existential reflection intertwine, suggesting an unbroken and profound interconnectedness between being, place, and time.