Gianfranco Pardi
Box, 2001
painted iron and steel, 350 × 450 × 400 cm
Space has always been present in Pardi's reflection, whether he engaged in painting or actual sculpture. It can be said that the ideal dimension to which his work aspires, not as an operational fulfillment but as a theoretical comparison, is that of architecture as a ground for exchange between different disciplines. The sculpture, sometimes specifically the monument, the work inserted in the urban context, emerges in Pardi's work coherently, as one of the most popular steps towards that dimension. The large metal Box painted in bright yellow comes from a series of works created from cardboard boxes: objects and formats chosen for their evident orthogonality. Always interested in rational thought, Pardi analyzes its postulates in his plastic work, but to do this he does not hesitate to undermine orthogonality itself to better highlight its logical and constructive connections. In our case the large "box" is disorganizing before our eyes, creating a completely new figure, as if belonging to an "other" geometry. Thus rationality confronts its opposite, and contemplates it as one of its possibilities.
from: Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro. La Collezione permanente, exhibition catalogue, edited by G. Verzotti, A. Vettese, Milano, Skira, 2007, p. 178.
