Eduardo Paolozzi at Pallant House Gallery
Eduardo Paolozzi, Real Gold, 1949, Printed papers on paper, Tate, Presented by the artist 1995 © The Trustees of the Eduardo Paolozzi Foundation
I recently visited the Eduardo Paolozzi exhibition at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, a major new retrospective of the British artist’s work, and discovered that there was much more to his ouevre than I had anticipated. Especially noted for his Pop Art collages, Paolozzi also worked across various mediums, and I was pleased to find a range of sculptures, textiles and even film had made their way into the exhibition. His textile designs for Horrockses and David Whitehead are particularly striking and reveal his interest in abstract expressionism, as well as being quite a departure from the early paper collages he is perhaps best known for.
One of the reasons I decided to visit this exhibition was Paolozzi’s involvement in a public work, especially one of my favourite large-scale sculptures – ‘Newton after Blake’ which sits in the forecourt of the British Library. Paolozzi was involved in other public works as well – A steel sculpture for the 1970 World Expo in Japan, mosaic decorations for Tottenham Court Road underground station, and many street sculptures in London, Munich and Edinburgh.
The breadth of material on show is impressive, and if you have even a passing interest in Paolozzi I would recommend visiting this exhibition. It is on until 13 October, and more details can be found here.
Melissa Donne.