Gio Pomodoro
Italian, 1930 - 2002Rilievo, 1967
Not on view
Black fiberglass
Gift of the Hudson Gallery, 1974.24
Through the work of Gio Pomodoro, we see the culmination of a long process of abstraction, purification, and reduction in twentieth century art. During the 1960s, artist’s often called into question the status of the art object. If indeed a painting’s primary role was not to reproduce the natural world, which had been decided by earlier abstract artists, what then, was its purpose? If the painted surface of a work of art is accepted to be a two-dimensional surface, why then, can it not literally break into the third dimension?
Artists sought answers to these questions by utilizing the invention of new materials. Utilizing fiberglass, Pomodoro has given us an object that blurs the lines between what is painting and what is sculpture. Traditionally, a painting hangs from the wall, yet this two-dimensional piece, projects into three-dimensional space, as a sculpture might.
