La vedova blu

Fear. Curiosity. Is it a monster or a soft toy? Or both? La Vedova Blu, The Blue Widow by Italian Pino Pascali makes one, perhaps, as curious as much as it causes insecurity. The gigantic blue spider is an estranged likeness, unreal, absurd and fairytale-like. The work is among Pascali’s final incomplete group of objects “The Reconstruction of Nature” in which he directed his attention to the tension inherent in the combination of industrial materials and organic forms. The seductive haptic qualities of the surface also represents curiosity about art which, in Pascali’s case, always requires approaching it without preconceived ideas. By choosing synthetic material Pascali ironizes the monumentality and “untouchable” nature of the classic art work, transposing it into the area of playfulness and interactivity. In 1968, the year in which he made the Vedova Blu, Pascali was at the high point of his career: he had an entire room for his work at the 34th Venice Biennale and received the sculpture prize there. Less than two months after the opening he died in a motorcycle accident.