Ugo Rondinone: the world just makes me laugh

This exhibition marks the fifth and final stop in what the artist terms a “serial exhibition” taking place over a two-year period. Each exhibition in the series is unique, featuring a combination of new and past works, organized according to the physical and cultural specifications of the five sites. Forty-five life-size, highly realistic clown sculptures, from Rondinone’s Vocabulary of Solitude, form the centerpiece of each exhibition. The festively attired clowns, with closed eyes and expressionless faces, suggest at once a sense of euphoric whimsy and a state of melancholy. Each assumes a different posture, representing both the mundane and profound actions of everyday life: waking, sitting, running, daydreaming. The BAMPFA exhibition will also feature several related works.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.