Arnaldo Pomodoro

Biography

Arnaldo Pomodoro was born in Montefeltro in 1926, he lived his childhood and training at Pesaro. Since 1954 he has lived and worked in Milan. His works of the fifties are high reliefs where a singular "writing" emerges unpublished in sculpture, which is interpreted variously by major critics. In the early sixties he tackled three-dimensionality and developed research on the forms of solid geometry: spheres, discs, pyramids, cones, columns, cubes -in polished bronze- are torn, corroded, dug into their innermost being, with the intention of breaking their perfection and discovering the mystery that is enclosed therein. The formal contrast between the polished perfection of the geometric shape and the chaotic complexity of the interior will henceforth be a constant in Pomodoro's production. In 1966 he was commissioned a sphere of three and a half meters in diameter for the Montreal Expo, now in Rome in front of the Farnesina: it is the transition to the large dimension. This is the first of the many works by the artist that have found placement in public spaces of great suggestion and symbolic importance: in the squares of many cities (Milan, Copenhagen, Brisbane, Los Angeles, Darmstadt), in front of Trinity College of the University of Dublin, Mills College in California, in the Cortile della Pigna of the Vatican Museums, in front of the United Nations in New York, in the Parisian headquarters of UNESCO, in the sculpture parks of Pepsi Cola in Purchase and the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, not far from New York City. He has carried out numerous environmental works: from the Project for the Urbino Cemetery of 1973 dug into the Urbino hill, then not realized due to local contrasts and problems, to Moto terreno solare, the long concrete mural for the Minoa Symposium in Marsala, from the Sala d'Armi for the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, to the environment Entrance into the labyrinth, dedicated to the Epic of Gilgamesh, up to the Carapace, the Bevagna winery created for the Lunelli family. Memorable anthological exhibitions have consecrated him as one of the most significant artists on the contemporary scene. Numerous traveling exhibitions have followed one another in Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan. He has dedicated himself to scenography since the beginning of his activity and has created "spectacular machines" for numerous theatrical works. He has taught in the art departments of American universities: Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, Mills College. He has received many prizes and important awards: the Sculpture Awards at the Biennials of São Paulo (1963) and Venice (1964); the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture 1990 of the Japan Art Association and the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award of the International Sculpture Center of San Francisco (2008). In 1992 Trinity College, Dublin University, awarded him an honorary degree in Literature and in 2001 the University of Ancona awarded an honorary degree in Building Engineering-Architecture.

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