ArnaldoPOMODORO
About
An influential Twentieth-century figure, Arnaldo Pomodoro has dealt with the issue of three-dimensions developing his research on the shapes of solid geometry.
Pomodoro’s mission is “to discover what is in a form, which on the surface seems so perfect and absolute”. By destroying traditional forms, the artist expresses a freedom from any restrictions; bringing the energy of matter to the surface means stripping the geometric shape of its physical immobility and challenging ideological stability, thus proposing a new type of monument.
Arnaldo Pomodoro was born in Montefeltro in 1926; his childhood was spent in Pesaro, where he also studied. In 1954 he moved to Milan. His works from the Fifties are high-reliefs in which he developed a remarkable form of "writing", totally original in sculpture. In the early Sixties he began to create freestanding sculpture, then moved to large-size works.
He has received numerous awards for sculpture: San Paolo, 1963; Venice, 1964; Pittsburgh, 1967; the Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo, 1990; and in 2008, the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1992 he received an honorary degree in Humanities from the University of Dublin, and in 2001, an honorary degree in Building Engineering and Architecture from the University of Ancona.
Pomodoro has held numerous solo exhibitions that reflect his long career and the many critical reviews of his work. In 1970, a travelling exhibition to American university campuses, organised by Peter Selz and Tom Freudenheim, began at Berkeley and ended two years later at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.
This was followed in 1983 by an exhibition curated by Mark Rosenthal at Columbus Museum of Art, which then travelled to several other museums in the United States.
In 1994-1995, Giovanni Carandente curated an exhibition at the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Kanagawa, which also visited other Japanese museums.
Many other venues have hosted his work, among them: the Rotonda della Besana in Milan (1974), in collaboration with Sam Hunter; Forte di Belvedere, Florence (1984), curated by Italo Mussa; Fortezza di San Leo (1997), an exhibition dedicated to Cagliostro with an essay by Achille Bonito Oliva and two unpublished texts by Paolo Volponi; the Palais-Royal Gardens, Paris (2002), with essays by Pierre Restany and Jacqueline Risset; a retrospective at the Sala delle Cariatidi, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2006) and at other locations in the city; and Tornabuoni Art, Paris (2019), with a monograph by Luca Massimo Barbero.
His works are installed in many public locations and squares in Italy and around the world (Milan, Copenhagen, Brisbane, Los Angeles, Darmstadt, Rome), the Pepsi Cola park in Purchase, NY; Trinity College, Dublin; Cortile della Pigna, the Vatican Museums; the United Nations Headquarters, New York; the UNESCO headquarters, Paris; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and are held in major public collections.
His environmental works include the 90-metre-long cement relief Moto terreno solare at the Minoa Symposium, Marsala, Sicily; the new ‘Arms Room’ at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; and Carapace, the winery designed for the Tenuta Castelbuono di Bevagna, commissioned by the Lunelli family and inaugurated in June 2012.
He has taught in US university art departments at Stanford, Berkeley and Mills College. He has also worked as a stage designer of "spectacular machines" for numerous events, such as his collaboration with Luca Ronconi for Das Kätchen von Heilbronn by Kleist, performed on Lake Zürich in 1972; the memorable experiences in the earthquake ruins of Gibellina in the Eighties; and his stage and costume design for the opera Teneke by Fabio Vacchi (libretto by Franco Marcoaldi), based on the story of the same name by Yashar Kemal, staged during the 2007-2008 season at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, directed by Ermanno Olmi and conducted by Roberto Abbado.
In 2016 the Marconi Foundation paid tribute to the artist on his 90th birthday by re-proposing the exhibition One Hundredth of a Second, which was originally held at Studio Marconi in 1971.
Pomodoro’s mission is “to discover what is in a form, which on the surface seems so perfect and absolute”. By destroying traditional forms, the artist expresses a freedom from any restrictions; bringing the energy of matter to the surface means stripping the geometric shape of its physical immobility and challenging ideological stability, thus proposing a new type of monument.
Arnaldo Pomodoro was born in Montefeltro in 1926; his childhood was spent in Pesaro, where he also studied. In 1954 he moved to Milan. His works from the Fifties are high-reliefs in which he developed a remarkable form of "writing", totally original in sculpture. In the early Sixties he began to create freestanding sculpture, then moved to large-size works.
He has received numerous awards for sculpture: San Paolo, 1963; Venice, 1964; Pittsburgh, 1967; the Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo, 1990; and in 2008, the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1992 he received an honorary degree in Humanities from the University of Dublin, and in 2001, an honorary degree in Building Engineering and Architecture from the University of Ancona.
Pomodoro has held numerous solo exhibitions that reflect his long career and the many critical reviews of his work. In 1970, a travelling exhibition to American university campuses, organised by Peter Selz and Tom Freudenheim, began at Berkeley and ended two years later at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.
This was followed in 1983 by an exhibition curated by Mark Rosenthal at Columbus Museum of Art, which then travelled to several other museums in the United States.
In 1994-1995, Giovanni Carandente curated an exhibition at the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Kanagawa, which also visited other Japanese museums.
Many other venues have hosted his work, among them: the Rotonda della Besana in Milan (1974), in collaboration with Sam Hunter; Forte di Belvedere, Florence (1984), curated by Italo Mussa; Fortezza di San Leo (1997), an exhibition dedicated to Cagliostro with an essay by Achille Bonito Oliva and two unpublished texts by Paolo Volponi; the Palais-Royal Gardens, Paris (2002), with essays by Pierre Restany and Jacqueline Risset; a retrospective at the Sala delle Cariatidi, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2006) and at other locations in the city; and Tornabuoni Art, Paris (2019), with a monograph by Luca Massimo Barbero.
His works are installed in many public locations and squares in Italy and around the world (Milan, Copenhagen, Brisbane, Los Angeles, Darmstadt, Rome), the Pepsi Cola park in Purchase, NY; Trinity College, Dublin; Cortile della Pigna, the Vatican Museums; the United Nations Headquarters, New York; the UNESCO headquarters, Paris; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and are held in major public collections.
His environmental works include the 90-metre-long cement relief Moto terreno solare at the Minoa Symposium, Marsala, Sicily; the new ‘Arms Room’ at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; and Carapace, the winery designed for the Tenuta Castelbuono di Bevagna, commissioned by the Lunelli family and inaugurated in June 2012.
He has taught in US university art departments at Stanford, Berkeley and Mills College. He has also worked as a stage designer of "spectacular machines" for numerous events, such as his collaboration with Luca Ronconi for Das Kätchen von Heilbronn by Kleist, performed on Lake Zürich in 1972; the memorable experiences in the earthquake ruins of Gibellina in the Eighties; and his stage and costume design for the opera Teneke by Fabio Vacchi (libretto by Franco Marcoaldi), based on the story of the same name by Yashar Kemal, staged during the 2007-2008 season at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, directed by Ermanno Olmi and conducted by Roberto Abbado.
In 2016 the Marconi Foundation paid tribute to the artist on his 90th birthday by re-proposing the exhibition One Hundredth of a Second, which was originally held at Studio Marconi in 1971.
