Giò Pomodoro (1930-2002) - Solvecchio

Giò Pomodoro (Orciano di Pesaro, 1930 – Milan, 2002) was one of the most important Italian sculptors of the postwar era. After informal beginnings in the 1950s, he develops a personal research on the “sign,” the tension of forms and the relationship between matter, space and void. He works with bronze, marble, stone, polyester and also creates jewelry, medals and large public monumental works.

He participates several times in the Venice Biennale and in Documenta Kassel, obtaining in 1959 the First Prize for Sculpture at the Paris Youth Biennale. He exhibits in important international museums and galleries, including Marlborough Gallery in New York, Tate Gallery in London and Guggenheim Museum. Famous are the cycles of *Tensioni*, *Soli*, *Contatti*, *Archi* and the monumental urban works such as *Sole per Galileo Galilei* in Florence and *Sole Aerospazio* in Turin.

His research combines geometric rigor, plastic energy and interest in poetry, architecture and science, making him a central figure of Italian abstract sculpture of the 20th century. In 2002 he receives the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture” from the International Sculpture Center in Washington, the first Italian to obtain this recognition.