Acrylic paint on canvas, plexiglass plate with caption

260 x 200 cm

Zweiterjunizweitausendundneun (Star Painting) is one of Ugo Rondinone’s “star paintings”, a series of large-format paintings that elaborate Rondinone’s interest in art as a meditative tool. Hung very low on the wall, the viewer is encouraged to cast themselves in the world of the painting, allowing their gaze and mind to wander. In line with its absurdist title that rejects interpretation, the painting does not seek to represent anything, but rather capture a non-existent unknown as Rondinone captures a singular atmosphere without any emotional context. Rondinone thus evokes a “dreamscape”, where the perception of a dreamed and purely mental landscape oscillates between fleeting impressions of the real and the unreal. By looking into these “star paintings”, viewers are at once reassured by the banal, all-encompassing landscape, while also feeling the excitement of possibly discovering something sublime within the depths of Rondinone’s painted realms. It is in this state of doubt and confusion where the flow of time feels distorted, allowing viewers to make space to discover their own rhythms of living.