Pino Pascali

Pino Pascali
Born	October 19, 1935 Bari, Italy
Died	September 11, 1968 Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Known for	Sculpture
Movement	Arte Povera

Pino Pascali (19 October 1935 – 11 September 1968) was an Italian artist, sculptor, set designer and performer.

Pino Pascali was born in Bari, Italy in 1935 and moved to Rome in 1955 to learn scene painting and set design at the Academy of Art. Pascali worked as an advertisement illustrator and designer for a number of years before his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Galleria La Tartaruga. In 1968, Pascali died in a motorcycle accident at the age of thirty-two. His short career has served as an important contribution to post-war art.

In 1955, Pascali left the science-oriented school that he attended in Bari, and went to a secondary school specialized in the arts. In 1956 he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, on the scenic design course held by Peppino Piccolo with the help of his assistant Fabio Vergoz. He also studied under the guidance of Toti Scialoja, whose open teaching approach encouraged students to experiment with diverse mediums and forms. In the context of the Accademia, Pascali met fellow Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis. Pascali took part in a number of collective shows for young artists: 1956, the Painting Exhibition at the Istituto Tommaseo di Tivoli; 1956, Second Exhibition "Pennello d'argento" at the Circolo Culturale dell Vittorie in Rome; 1959, Scenic Design Show, at the 2nd Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. Before Pascali graduated in 1959 he worked as an assistant scenic designer in many RAI productions and additionally collaborated with the Studio Saraceni, Lodolofilm and Incom as a set designer, graphic designe, scriptwriter and creative writer for television advertising, making sketches, creating characters and shorts for the ads.

In 1966, Pascali had a solo exhibition at the L'Attico Gallery in Rome. It was through this exhibition that he first showed his “fake sculptures,” a series of shaped-canvases that first appear to be solid sculptures but are actually paintings that present abstract forms suggesting animals, plants and landscapes. One of Pascali's "fake sculptures" was Decapitazione delle giraffe, or Decapitation of the giraffes. Here a structure of wood was created to resemble a skeleton which was then covered with canvas to represent skin. Other sculptures in this series included, Decapitazione della sculptura or Decapitation of the sculpture, (1966), and Mare or Sea, (1966). Pascali's other works involving canvas include Grande bacino di donna, mons Venus, ( Large woman's pelvis, mons Venus) 1964, and Labbra rosse, ( Red lips) 1964. These works were large flat canvases that became three-dimensional sculptures through the use of wooden structures, paint, and other materials, though they were still able to be hung on the wall. Many of these sculptures were references to popular culture of the time. Soon before, Pascali had created his “Armi series,” or "Weaponry" (1965–66). Assembled from found materials and painted olive-green, these sculptures faithfully recreate every detail of the weapon it mimics. However, as the weapon cannot fire or kill, it becomes an innocent, oversized toy.

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