Provenance
Galleria d'Arte Moderna " Il Castello", Milan
Catalogue Essay
Arnaldo Pomodoro's captivating sculptures – half-mechanical, half-organic – hover between the realms of figuration and abstraction. Their burst-open forms could be the crystalline by-product of some strange reaction, a form of erosion, or the complex technological workings of a futuristic computer. Highly influenced, like his compatriot Lucio Fontana, by the space race – with its Sputnik satellites and images of the moon – Pomodoro has steadfastly dedicated a half century of artistic production to representing modernity.
The present lot Sfera belongs to his most acclaimed body work begun in the early 1960s. Spheres allowed Pomodoro to explore the sculptural qualities of the primary geometric forms, an exercise he replicated with columns, pyramids, discs and cubes. Often executed on the largest of scales as outdoor sculptures, many are now exhibited permanently in some of the world's most prominent public spaces, such as at the plaza of the United Nations Building in New York.
Pomodoro's ruptured forms carry the emotional weight of Abstract Expressionist canvases, and are declarations of the same artistic freedom to liberate art from its formal constraints; if Jackson Pollock reinvented painting and the role of the painter, then Arnaldo Pomodoro reinvented sculpture and the role of the sculptor. The sheen of the gleaming, highly reflective surface may reference Brancusi, but its insides, shredded with laser-like precision, are the remnants of the violent gestures of the artist. Pomodoro himself talks of this influence and how to overcome it: "The perfection of form in Brancusi was so beautiful and mysterious: what can one do after Brancusi, or after Arp? Then at a certain moment I said to myself, really this perfection of the form in our time is inappropriate; it has to be destroyed. For me the ‘destruction' element was my most important discovery, and the most authentic both in terms of myself and my times" (Arnaldo Pomodoro, quoted in Sam Hunter, Arnaldo Pomodoro, NewªYork, 1982, p. 52).
Pomodoro has always insisted that the erosions or lacerations found in his work should be read as a form of writing. Having taught in Northern California during the 1960s, he was influenced by writers of the Beat Generation such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, with whom the artist was well acquainted. The marks left upon what was originally a pristine, shining surface are Pomodoro's form of writing, a lyrical calligraphy which speaks directly of his creative processes. Once completed, Pomodoro's spheres become an exploration of negative space with light allowed to pass through and fill the intricate shapes which the artist has etched out. As in the work of his peer Yves Klein, voids in the bronze become as important as – if not more important than – the remaining bronze. These gaps in the medium allow the viewer to enter an alternate world, one in which mysticism and the machine age are harmoniously combined.

25

Arnaldo Pomodoro

Disco con Sfera

1997
Bronze.
37 x 28.5 x 28.5 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 11 1/4 in).
Incised 'Arnaldo Pomodoro, 1997' on the base. This work is from an edition of eight and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist. This work is registered with the Archivio Arnaldo Pomodoro under number 730.

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 ♠

Sold for £61,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London

1
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £213,650
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2
Mary Heilmann
Rude Boy
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £103,250
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3
Jim Lambie
Night Divides the Day
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
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4
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attesa
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
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5
Günther Uecker
Mutation
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £223,250
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6
Robert Morris
Felt
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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7
Georg Herold
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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9
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
4 Hostessen (4 Stewardesses)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £277,250
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10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 550,000 ‡♠
Sold for £337,250
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Overrun
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,127,650
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12
Raqib Shaw
Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £553,250
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13
Anselm Reyle
Harmony
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
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14
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ♠
Sold for £79,250
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15
Subodh Gupta
No. 1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
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16
Donald Judd
Untitled (89-30)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £169,250
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17
Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov
The Painting on an Easel
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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18
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Ritratto sigg. Lerre (Portrait of Mr. Lerre)
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £67,250
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19
Martin Kippenberger
Mirror for Hang-Over Bud
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £145,250
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20
Robert Rauschenberg
Address Unknown
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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21
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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22
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £193,250
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23
Karel Appel
Birds Over the Red Sea
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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24
Victor Vasarely
Cassiopée II NB
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
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25
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Disco con Sfera
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
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26
Bill Viola
Basin of Tears
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω
Sold for £181,250
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27
Marlene Dumas
Equality
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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28
Dan Colen
Wouldn't it be Nice
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 †
Sold for £85,250
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29
Martin Creed
Work no. 230 (Don’t Worry)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £51,650
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011 London

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

25

Arnaldo Pomodoro

Disco con Sfera

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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17 Feb 2011
London