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Lot Essay
Arnaldo Pomodoro's Disco solare was created in 1982-83, and perfectly demonstrates the incredible, rich tension between gleaming metal surfaces and the deliberately blistered interior which characterises his greatest works. Looking at the contrast between the Brancusi-like pristine 'exterior' surface and the dark, rutted interior, filled with the signature 'writing' which so resembles modern circuitry, the viewer can appreciate Pomodoro's ability to balance idealism and realism in his work. After all, the crisp beauty of the shining disc recalls the sun as well as having its own satisfyingly geometric perfection - it is almost Platonic, shimmering and mirage-like - and yet through the fissures in the surface appear the etched elements that add such a textural, sensual wealth to the sculpture, hinting at real life, at mortality, at the human factor.
That contrast between the emphatically material, encapsulated in the mechano-organic innards of the Disco solare, and the ephemeral dimension invoked in this shining, circular paragon reveals Pomodoro's involvement with art as a living entity. Both in its reflections and in its interior parts, it embraces real life, becoming involved with its own surroundings. That link between the physical and the metaphysical became even stronger in Pomodoro's works after his first trip to Egypt, which took place in 1982, the year when he appears to have begun to create Disco solare; like the statuary and monuments of Ancient Egypt, this sculpture combines the hieratic with the distinctly earthy, making it a powerful and evocative bridge between those realms. During this period, Pomodoro was also being celebrated in an increasing number of high-profile exhibitions; it is indicative of his increasing exposure on the international stage that as well as numerous commissions, he was receiving accolades from the art establishment. Indeed, another cast of Disco solare featured in the important travelling retrospective held in the United States of America from 1983 to 1985; this, alongside its extensive literary history, reveals this sculpture's importance within Pomodoro's oeuvre.
That contrast between the emphatically material, encapsulated in the mechano-organic innards of the Disco solare, and the ephemeral dimension invoked in this shining, circular paragon reveals Pomodoro's involvement with art as a living entity. Both in its reflections and in its interior parts, it embraces real life, becoming involved with its own surroundings. That link between the physical and the metaphysical became even stronger in Pomodoro's works after his first trip to Egypt, which took place in 1982, the year when he appears to have begun to create Disco solare; like the statuary and monuments of Ancient Egypt, this sculpture combines the hieratic with the distinctly earthy, making it a powerful and evocative bridge between those realms. During this period, Pomodoro was also being celebrated in an increasing number of high-profile exhibitions; it is indicative of his increasing exposure on the international stage that as well as numerous commissions, he was receiving accolades from the art establishment. Indeed, another cast of Disco solare featured in the important travelling retrospective held in the United States of America from 1983 to 1985; this, alongside its extensive literary history, reveals this sculpture's importance within Pomodoro's oeuvre.