"Everyone Gets Lighter"
PILEVNELI Dolapdere
September 12 - November 25, 2017
A bold rooftop installation titled “Everyone Gets Lighter” by Swiss born American artist Ugo Rondinone will signal the inauguration of PILEVNELI Gallery on 12th of September. Placed on the rooftop, the 9.5 meters long arched neon sign that reads “Everyone Gets Lighter” will greet Dolapdere, Istanbul with its impressive composition until 25th of November.
His work frequently employs the experiential qualities of the everyday, often reflecting on the boundaries between fiction and reality. He has been widely exhibited in respected institutions such as; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Museo de Arte Contemporéneo de Castilla y León, Palais de Tokyo and Whitechapel Gallery, and his works are in the collections of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.
The rainbow lettering that reads “Everyone Gets Lighter” was developed especially for the installation together with Swiss graphic designer Cornell Windli. Starting from 1997 till the present day, Rondinone has made 14 different of his characteristic large rainbow signs which have been mounted on buildings in locations all around the world, including New Museum’s Bowery building façade from its opening in 2007 through 2010.
Ugo Rondinone occupies an unique position in the contemporary art scene with his extremely diverse techniques and explicit series that are broad in scope. Rondinone’s oeuvre carries a vibrant undertone that makes the viewer go back and forth between the feelings of joy and unhappiness. The artist's works are conceived as a consolidation of visual and emotional experience combined with powerful poetic and critical observations.
The beaming neon-lit sign piece “Everyone Gets Lighter” is enigmatically captivating and the phrase's positive affirmations seem to transform into beacons of hope. The work hints at pop elements with its layout and it is full of references to spiritual and mindful clearness. Rondinone underlines that the message he wants to convey through this artwork is about “gaining clarity from every possible side, and not to succumb to bitterness and anger”.
Ugo Rondinone lives and works in New York.