Ugo Rondinone Debuts Planetary-Inspired Rings, and Other News

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Ugo Rondinone Debuts Planetary-Inspired Rings, and Other News

Ugo Rondinone’s monumental stone sculptures have landed everywhere from the desert near Las Vegas to Collins Park on Miami Beach, but the Swiss-born artist’s latest works can be held in your hand. He teamed up with jeweler and close friend Gazza Graham to create seven sterling silver rings whose hand-inlaid semi-precious stones and carvings speak to planetary influences and days of the week. (Moonstone represents Monday and the moon; aquamarine speaks to Thursday and Jupiter.) Presented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery at Design Miami and available in an edition of 30, the $6,500 rings ($35,00 for the set) prove Rondinone’s meditations on spirituality, nature, and color resonate in any medium. —Ryan Waddoups

Veronica Ryan, a sculptor who probes issues of identity, receives the Turner Prize.

“Veronica Ryan, a sculptor whose meditative work melds handcraft and found objects to probe issues of identity and cultural history, has won the 2022 Turner Prize, the UK’s biggest contemporary art award. Hoots and hollers went up in Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall as the Montserrat-born artist was announced as the winner of the prestigious award. At 66, Ryan is the oldest maker to take home the prize. (Until 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible.) Ryan, who received an OBE from the Queen last year, was chosen for the ‘personal and poetic way she extends the language of sculpture,’ according to a statement from the prize’s jury. The group praised the ‘noticeable shift in her use of space, color, and scale both in gallery and civic spaces.’” [H/T Artnet News]

An evocative new sculpture at London’s Kings Cross brings homelessness in full view.

“A looming 14-foot-tall sculpture making “homelessness impossible to ignore” has been unveiled outside London’s King’s Cross station. Commissioned by the homelessness charity Crisis, the work depicts a person in winter clothing camped outside the station, a scene likely familiar to the thousands of commuters using the station every day. The sculpture was created by the artist and prosthetic expert Sophie de Oliveira Barata and the artist Helen Lansdown (in collaboration with the creative agency Creative Giants and design company Millimetre). Called Alex, it was made using face-mapping technology and the profiles of 17 people facing homelessness who have been supported by Crisis.” [H/T The Art Newspaper]

Studio Gang completes an undulating residential skyscraper in downtown Brooklyn.

“Studio Gang has completed the 11 Hoyt residential skyscraper in downtown Brooklyn with a scalloped concrete facade and an elevated park. Named 11 Hoyt, the 620-foot-tall skyscraper was clad with precast concrete panels that are positioned at different angles in order to give it an undulating effect. The 57-story tower rises up from a podium that surrounds the building, on top of which was installed a 27,000-square-foot private park, with landscape design by New York–based Hollander Design. Architecture studio Michaelis Boyd designed the interiors for the skyscraper, including the public areas and the 481 residences.” [H/T Dezeen]

Leo Villareal launches a stellar-inspired NFT series that generates patterns in real time.

“While the crypto market bubble may have caused what some believe was an inevitable decline and fall, there are still noteworthy artists making work in the crypto space. Leo Villareal, Pace gallery’s resident programming and LED-light wizard, has collaborated with digital art platform Outland to launch the next edition of his Cosmologies NFTs: Cosmic Bloom. Inspired by “organic and biological structures and stellar phenomena,” the works use custom, web-based, live code to generate complex visual patterns and geometric forms. Each NFT is unique and set in a non-repeating and constant motion.” [H/T ARTnews]

Chef Björn Frantzén brings neo-Nordic cuisine to a new restaurant opening at Harrods. 

“Two icons have come together with the opening of new Harrods restaurant Studio Frantzén by world-renowned chef Björn Frantzén. The restaurant, rooftop terrace, and bar will serve neo-Nordic cuisine infused with Asian influences across two floors with 112 seats. It marks the first UK restaurant from Björn Frantzén who has six Michelin stars across a growing empire of restaurants in Stockholm and Asia, including his eponymous Stockholm restaurant, Frantzén, widely considered one of the world’s best. The menu at the new restaurant will celebrate Swedish and Asian flavors with a special focus on smoking and preserving (popular techniques in Nordic cuisine) and grilled dishes using an open fire.” [H/T Wallpaper]

Construction begins on the world’s largest radio observatory in Australia and South Africa.

“After 30 years of planning and negotiations, construction has begun on the Square Kilometre Array, the world’s largest radio-astronomy observatory. The giant instrument—to be built across sprawling sites in Australia and Africa—will collect the radio signals emitted by celestial objects and will hopefully shed light on some of astronomy’s most enigmatic problems, such as the nature of dark matter and how galaxies form. On Monday, astronomers and local communities will travel to the remote sites in South Africa’s Northern Cape and Western Australia to celebrate the milestone with officials from the SKA Observatory (SKAO), the intergovernmental organization in charge of the telescopes.” [H/T Nature]

Today’s attractive distractions:

This innovative magnetic powder material can capture microplastics in water. 

In a rare piece of positive news from the Amazon, gigantic fish are thriving.

Lizzo’s speech at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards is quite the tear-jerker.

Is this mammoth $65 meatwich for two the most expensive sandwich in DC?