Rondolini´s cosmic calamity is a version of the tempus fugit topic, a metaphor of the destructive power of the passing of time. Working directly on one of the call’s assignments, which means, thinking about the fair´s spatial and temporal dimensions, Randolini installed a large water ice cream that melted slowly on a bed made of light. By the time the art fair closed, there remained nothing but a piece of ice floating in a large puddle. The next day, a new ice cream with the same dimensions was placed for time to devour it.
Because of its colors and apparent thoroughness, Rondolini’s work reminded me of Oldenburg’s huge pop sculptures (as a matter of fact, the Swedish artist installed a few years ago, a 10 meter high ice cream cone on top of a building on the main street in Cologne, Germany, that although was made of steel and plastic, pretended to have fallen and was melting on to the Neumarkt Gallery window’s. This reference to pop culture separates de work from more ontological interpretations. Exaggeration has been one of advertising’s basic strategies. And, at a fair where works of art are items for sale, the speed and voracity that melt the ice cream seem to be referring especially to the consumerist world.
Página 12, Radar. Buenos Aires, May 2011.