In Rome, Fendi celebrates sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro

Last spring, while other fashion labels jetted off to Mexico City, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro to present their cruise collections, Fendi went home to Rome. In the cinematic capital, the Italian brand unveiled an exhibition of monumental sculptures at its headquarters, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana.

The show, Arnaldo Pomodoro: Il Grande Teatro delle Civiltà, celebrates one of Italy’s most prolific contemporary sculptors who, at 97 years old, is many decades older than the usual emerging phenoms the fashion industry taps for collaborations. With his philosophical approach, meticulous craftsmanship and theatrical flair, however, there is perhaps no more apt creative companion for an Italian brand.

“This long career is going to be celebrated once more,” said Fendi chairman and CEO Serge Brunschwig at the exhibition’s opening party in May. “The modernity of this work, of course, we know it – we’re used to it. But it’s worth reminding everybody that this is wonderful. He’s still living. He can still produce a Peekaboo [bag], which shows his vitality.”

The Peekaboo that Brunschwig is referring to is Pomodoro’s iteration of one of Fendi’s signature bags. Since 2014, the label has been producing special editions of the style with creative partners, from singer Adele to architect Zaha Hadid. But Pomodoro’s metallic version goes beyond mere collectable accessory. Displayed in the exhibition’s entrance hall, it teases the shapes, themes and materials of the show that visitors are about to experience.

During the exhibition opening, many international guests compared Pomodoro’s work to Star Wars’ Death Star but the artist’s unique aesthetic precedes the sci-fi boom of the late 20th century. The impetus for his work stems from a curiosity about what hid beneath the undulating forms of work by sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi, as well as developing a technique that used cuttlefish bones as canvases for meticulous markings or as the basis for the form of a sculpture. Pomodoro’s Peekaboo, with its spikes piercing through bronze canvas, similarly suggests a refined shape that is revealing a more chaotic interior.

“He’s a universal artist,” said Andrea Viliani, who curated the exhibition alongside Lorenzo Respi. “He knows how to make two different things coexist. One symbol that is very evident is the surface and the inner part. It’s a sculptural element.” Viliani and Respi took a similar approach to the exhibition’s design.

The Fendi headquarters, a well-ordered example of fascist architecture that squares off the ancient curves of Rome’s Colosseum, was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935 as the centrepiece of a new business district in the city’s suburbs. It forms the exhibition’s stoic shell, while inside its two halls, the pandemonium of sculptures including Le battaglie (an ink-black, 12-metre fibreglass collage of fragmented shapes) and Movimento in piena aria e nel profondo (a more curvaceous mash up in white) are the Pomodoro-esque counterpoint.

The show also includes elements dedicated to highlighting Pomodoro’s process including sketchbooks and models. “The archive is the silent part of the work the foundation has been doing,” said Carlotta Montebello, the executive director of the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro in Milan. “It’s never public. It’s never been exhibited. It’s part of his story. It’s where he comes from. It’s what led him to do one thing and the next.”

Beyond the palazzo’s walls, gargantuan sculptures from the Forme del mito series mark the site’s four corners. Further afield, Fendi has produced a guide to Pomodoro’s work around Rome (Disco in forma di rosa del deserto, or “Disc in the form of a desert rose,” is tucked away in the courtyard of the Quirinale Palace) and the world (Sfera con sfera, or “Sphere with sphere,” sits outside the United Nations headquarters in New York).

“Creativity is our life. Craftsmanship is our life,” Brunschwig said. “We’re not artists – no confusion. But to be able to dialogue with them from time to time, to help them, to celebrate them, is an honour for us.”

Arnaldo Pomodoro. Il Grande Teatro delle Civiltà continues in Rome until Oct. 1. For more information, visit arnaldopomodoro.fendi.com.

Style Advisor travelled to Rome as a guest of Fendi. The company did not review or approve this article prior to publication.