Ugo Rondinone: Miami Mountain / Marcela Sinclair: Derrame
Ugo Rondinone injects neon colour into Collins Park in Miami Beach with the 'Miami Mountain' rock sculpture, while Marcela Sinclair launches a complimentary installation during Miami Art Week.
New York-based, mixed-media artist Ugo Rondinone has erected a giant neon rock formation in Miami Beach's Collins Park, close to the city's iconic Bass Museum of Art. Famed for 'Seven Magic Mountains' (2016-2018), a group of seven fluorescently-painted totems of rocks located south of Las Vegas in the Nevada desert, Rondinone has replicated the success with 'Miami Mountain'; a singular vivid formation and a permanent piece acquired by The Bass for the Miami Beach park.
Consisting of five brightly painted boulders, stacked in the form of a contemporary cairn, each boulder weighs between 15 and 30 tons. The piece finds its geological inspiration in the rock formations of the North American Badlands, often referred to as the 'Hoodoos'. Standing on the corner of 21st Street and Collins Avenue, the oversized formation attracts attention from passers-by, enticing them into the park to discover more.
During the 2019 edition of Miami Art Week, Marcela Sinclair expanded the installation on a smaller scale with 'Derrame (Spill); 5 cubic meters of neon-painted river rocks varying in sizes between 2-14cm. Created as an interactive installation, Derrame deconstructs and reimagines Rondinone's mammoth sculpture, using rocks painted in matching neon colours. Sinclair invites members of the public to appropriate her work – and in some ways, that of the original – by testing different configurations for the small rocks, which can be stacked, regrouped, or manipulated at will.