Geometry and Disruption

The Jewelry of Giò and Arnaldo Pomodoro

Talented artists, brothers Giò and Arnaldo Pomodoro created sculptural works that dealt with the interplay between space and form. Both of the Pomodoro brothers were classically trained as goldsmiths, yet approached metalworking differently. Drawing on animate forms, Giò would often employ cuttlefish bones to craft totemic arrangements in his sculptures and jewelry. This ancient method of sculptural casting involves hollowing out the bones of a cuttlefish. Giò was also inspired by the landscape of Italy, stating that “a sculptor must have deep roots with his country.” Giò's work, whether intimately scaled or monumental, expresses a continuity. He stated numerous times: “Each of my works is tied to the previous and following one, even if this does not always happen in a linear route.”

In contrast to Giò, Arnaldo’s jewelry reflects his interest in the mechanical and creative disruption. Arnaldo's unique expressions appear at the onset as geometric shapes, yet on closer inspection one can see the continuous process of destruction and regeneration of the form. In the late 1950s, Arnaldo made his first trip to the United States and encountered the work of Constantin Brancusi at the Museum of Modern Art, New York which would prove to be a formative in the development of his artistic expression. Reflecting on the experience, Arnaldo stated, that he "experienced a deep wish to destroy their perfection. I imagined them in my mind's eye full of worm holes and corrosion, and then the idea came to me of setting all of my particular signs in the interior of these geometric solids, turning the abstract image of Brancusi inside out”. His expressions in jewelry of this early period demonstrate the interplay of geometry and disruption on a more intimate scale. These elaborate textural impressions were truly the artist’s own unique inventions.