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Lot Essay
This is the only small bomb made by Pascali (if we exclude the group of three small bombs/grenades in painted plastic, which I have been able to examine personally). A real mortar bomb, painted and signed by Pascali: a small, but intense testimony of his "Arms” period. A rare work with a wonderful history: I think it's true, but even if all the details I have gleaned are not entirely true, it nevertheless remains a lovely story which - for us - is the story of our bomb. Mid-1960s: Pascali had proposed an exhibition on his weapons to the gallerist Plinio De Martiis, owner of the historic "La Tartaruga" gallery in Rome. De Martiis was unwilling, at that time, to hold in his gallery an exhibition apparently presenting real weapons: from machine guns to cannons, etc... This rejection caused a rift between the two, who no longer remained in contact for a certain period of time. Meanwhile, Pascali offered his exhibition to Sperone in Turin, who agreed. It was a great success: not so much on the part of the critics, who remained "silent" (perhaps embarrassed by the objects/sculptures that were such close reminders of the war), as for the milieu of artists based in Turin and of Arte Povera, struck by the deconstruction and reconstruction of the weapons carried out by Pascali in a spirit that was playful and paradoxical. But enlightened collectors were also impressed in a positive way, and grasped the novelty of the language and artistic process undertaken.
Subsequently, De Martiis and Pascali met again: to seal their renewed friendship, Pascali gave Plinio this bomb, which the latter kept for himself for a long time. Until he, in his turn, gave it to a close woman friend, an art critic I believe.
The story continues with me, arriving one very cold evening at Studio Casoli, and acquiring it. The strange sensation of having won a "prize", for my deep devotion to Pascali (and to his “black woman”, already in the collection). Had the gallery owner not stopped me in time to wrap the work, I would have gone out into the street with the bomb "visible" under my arm. It is an image symbolic of the freshness, but also the enthusiasm for the hunt, with which many years ago one experienced art. More than twenty years have passed since then and for me, for the two of us, nothing has changed in our relationship with art. We seek it with the same passion and enthusiasm, just as we continue to experience intense emotion before a work of quality. It is as though the outside world (bound to the art of the present) has failed to contaminate us....
Subsequently, De Martiis and Pascali met again: to seal their renewed friendship, Pascali gave Plinio this bomb, which the latter kept for himself for a long time. Until he, in his turn, gave it to a close woman friend, an art critic I believe.
The story continues with me, arriving one very cold evening at Studio Casoli, and acquiring it. The strange sensation of having won a "prize", for my deep devotion to Pascali (and to his “black woman”, already in the collection). Had the gallery owner not stopped me in time to wrap the work, I would have gone out into the street with the bomb "visible" under my arm. It is an image symbolic of the freshness, but also the enthusiasm for the hunt, with which many years ago one experienced art. More than twenty years have passed since then and for me, for the two of us, nothing has changed in our relationship with art. We seek it with the same passion and enthusiasm, just as we continue to experience intense emotion before a work of quality. It is as though the outside world (bound to the art of the present) has failed to contaminate us....