Arnaldo Pomodoro

Sam Hunter, Arnaldo Pomodoro, New York, 1982, pp. 70-71, illustration of another cast
Flaminio Gualdoni ed., Arnaldo Pomodoro Catalogo Ragionato della Scultura, Milan, 2007, vol. 2, no. 334, p. 449, illustration of another cast

Arnaldo Pomodoro's work combines the meticulous approach of the craftsman with the techniques and aims of a caster of large-scale bronzes. His sculpture plays on the contrast between intricate detail and large scale abstract forms. He strips away the highly polished surfaces of basic shapes such as the cube, cylinder and sphere to reveal the internal structure of the form within, a machinery of cogs and gears that Pomodoro terms 'sign systems', akin to the complex interlocking systems of language or of organic bodies. Pomodoro was also influenced by advances in technology, and in particular the start of the age of space exploration. He states 'in these sculptures I sense the discovery and the drama of technological exploration and its powers. I interpret my surface erosions and irregularities as symbols of the destructive impulse' (S. Hunter, op. cit., p. 58).  The present work, Cubo I, reflects such preoccupations in depicting the explosive impact caused by the cube as it strikes the ground with the force of an asteroid or missile. The model was conceived in 1964, the same year that Pomodoro was awarded the prestigious prize for sculpture at the XXXII Venice Biennale.

Produced in a very small edition, the present cast of Cubo I is the last remaining in private hands. The other two casts can be found in the Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix, Arizona and in the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford, California.