Gio Pomodoro

Artist Biography

Gio Pomodoro was born in Orciano di Pesaro, Italy, the younger brother of the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.

He studied at the Technical Institute in Pesaro until 1951.  He began in 1952-3, like his brother, to make gold and silver jewelry with graphic signs related to action painting; also to make automatic drawings and assemblages* in iron and stone.

His first one-man exhibition was at the Galleria Numero, Florence, 1954.  He moved in 1954 to Milan, where he was active in the group linked to French tachisme*; co-signatory with Baj, Dangelo, Manzoni and others of the manifesto The End of Style 1957.

He and his brother exhibited as jewelers at the 1956 Venice Biennale*. In 1957 he made assemblage sculptures out of different materials such as wood, paper and plaster, as well as reliefs and works in the round with gestural* signs suggesting growth and multiplication.

He began in 1958 to make sculptures by stretching fabric over a wooden structure to produce a continuous, undulating form which was afterwards cast in bronze.  He was awarded the first prize for sculpture at the 1959 Paris Biennale and a David E. Bright Prize at the 1962 Venice Biennale*.

From 1966 he made many carvings in marble, with thicker, more slab-like forms. He lived in Milan and at Querceta.