Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s vibrant hues form a kaleidoscope of neon colors that stand in contrast to the muted tones of the surrounding Nevada desert.
“Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes,” Katy Perry describes how it feels to wake up in Las Vegas in her song Waking up in Vegas.
Known for its glitz and glamor, beer hats and neon lights, high-spending tourists and high-rollers in casinos, Las Vegas is the sixth most visited city in the United States, following New York, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is even a spot ahead of the US capital Washington, DC.
But unknown to many travelers, just a few minutes away from the famous Las Vegas Strip are magical towers of neon and form. The Seven Magic Mountains, a colorful, towering installation of perfectly stacked painted boulders, is located in the middle of the Nevada desert.
Their vibrant hues form a kaleidoscope of neon colors that stand in contrast to the muted tones of the surrounding desert. Created by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, it is one of the largest land-based installations in the United States completed in the last 40 years. The installation is proof of the power of art and collaboration, imagination and the natural world.
Humans and the natural world
Rondinone was born 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland, lives and works in New York and “has long embraced a fluid range of forms and media,” according to the tourist sight’s official website. “Rondinone creates the conditions for an expansive emotional range. His work has become recognized for its ability to channel both psychological expressiveness and profound insight in the human condition and the relationship between human being and nature.”
Referring concurrently to the natural world and existentialism, his works encapsulate a “mental trinity” that has underpinned his art for more than 20 years. He has said that with the Seven Magic Mountains, he wanted to create a work that “invites people to contemplate the nature of their surroundings. Color is a way to create joy and an emotional connection.
Rondinone grew up in a multicultural environment, which influenced his artistic vision. He studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Hamburg, Germany, where he developed his distinctive style. His early works were marked by a fascination with language, perception, and the fleeting nature of existence, themes that would continue to resonate throughout his career.
He has also collaborated with various artists and designers, and crossed the worlds of fashion and design with his aesthetic inspiring collections.
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From hoodoos to colorful mountains
The sculptures were inspired by the hoodoos (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) in the Western United States, with each boulder weighing several tons.
Produced by the Art Production Fund, New York and Nevada Museum of Art, the boulders were stacked in December 2015 and painted in April 2016. The installation was opened to the public on May 11, 2016. It was originally only going to stand for two years, but it gets so many visitors that they extended for three more years—and extended again until May 31, 2027.
I was lucky enough to visit the Seven Magic Mountains when I went to Nevada last month. As I stood beneath the installation, I was struck by their sheer scale, towering over me. It felt like I was looking at nature’s buildings that were bringing life and vitality to the desert.
Whether looking up—and you see them complementing the blue sky—or looking down at their shadows dancing on the ground, you feel the artist’s message on the dialogue between the natural and the artificial world, the rural and urban spaces.
Unlike other tourist sights, there is no entrance fee to Seven Magic Mountains. But it is recommended to drive a car or join tours that make stops at the Seven Magic Mountains; public transportation is not popular in Las Vegas. Uber is another option you can take.
Whichever way you choose, don’t leave Las Vegas without making a stop at these colorful mountains.
Watch the artist explain his installation below.