Since 2004, the year of the last major Pino Pascali (1935-1968) exhibition at the Castel Sant’Elmo in Naples (curated by Angela Tecce), it has been impossible to see a substantial body of work by the Italian artist, a major figure in the art of the second half of the 20th century.

Now it’s the Prada Foundation in Milan and its curator Mark Godfrey task to bring together nearly fifty works on four floors. The fragility and geographical dispersion of these works make them difficult to display.

The first stage replicates in part the presentation of the four solo exhibitions from 1965 to 1968 that punctuated the artist’s short life (he died at the age of 33 following a motorbike accident in Rome in September 1968).

This is an original proposal, showing the various contrasting moments in the work that make Pino Pascali’s sculpture so distinctive: from his early works in the spirit of Pop (Omaggio a Billie Holiday (Labbra rosse), Colosseo, 1964) to his later creations in steel wool imbued with a dreamy elsewhere (Il Ponte, La Trappola, 1968), via his false weapons (Mitragliatrice, Missile ‘Colomba della Pace’, 1965) and white sculptures of ghostly animals (La decapitazione delle giraffe, Il dinosauro riposa, 1965), which prevent the traditional challenges of sculpture and establish the notion of ‘finta scultura’ (‘false sculpture’), a central concept in Pino Pascali’s work.

This movement from one series to another demonstrates the artist’s ongoing quest to experiment with materials, a subject that the exhibition explores in greater depth by devoting a second section to the use of new sculptural materials (Eternit, plastic, fake fur, etc.), which Pino Pascali seized upon with relish, as he recalled in a text in Barese dialect recited to the art critic Marisa Volpi Orlandini for the magazine Marcatré in 1968 (« I am like a snake, every year I change my skin. I don’t throw my skin away, but I do everything with it »), a way of indicating the metamorphoses of his work.

Another part of the exhibition compares some of the artist’s works, such as the aquatic installation 32 mq di mare circa(about 32 square metres of sea) (1967), which is unfortunately an exhibition copy whereas the original work, restored a few years ago, is kept at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, or the Vedova Blu (a giant spider in electric blue synthetic fur) with the iconic photographs of the artist having fun with his works by interacting with them, This ‘spirit of the guitto’ – the lively, theatrical spirit that artist friend Piero Gilardi (1942- 2023) about him is generally lacking in the exhibition, which tends to devitalise the artist’s exceptional creative force in a set design with an international aesthetic entrusted to studio 2x4, which would have deserved to present the works in a more lively and sensitive way, in direct confrontation, for example, with the films in which we see Pino Pascali replaying certain sculptures outdoors, as in Luca Patella’s SKMP2 (1968); All this would have shown how inseparable art and life were for the artist.

Pino Pascali at Fondazione Prada in Milan, from March 28th, 2024 to September 23th, 2024.

Pino Pascali Omaggio a Billie Holiday (Labbra rosse), 1964 GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Torino, Fondazione Guido ed Ettore De Fornaris, Pino Pascali La gravida o Maternità, 1964 Sovrintendenza Capitolina, depositi MACRO, Roma, Pino Pascali Primo piano labbra, 1964 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma

Pino Pascali Vedova blu, 1968 mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Leihgabe der Österreichischen Ludwig-Stiftung. In the name of the Austrian Ludwig Foundation in 1981, Claudio Abate Pino Pascali con Vedova blu (1968). “Sesta biennale romana. Rassegna delle Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio”, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma, 1968 Photo Claudio Abate © Archivio Claudio Abate

Pino Pascali Coda, 1968 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma, Pino Pascali La trappola, 1968 Tate. Acquisition 2009, Pino Pascali Il ponte, 1968 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Scott Burton Fund and Committee on Painting and Sculpture Funds in honor of Kynaston, McShine, 2008, Pino Pascali Liane, 1968 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma

Pino Pascali Cavalletto, 1968 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma, Ugo Mulas Pino Pascali with Cavalletto for “L’Uomo Vogue”, 1968 Photo Ugo Mulas © Ugo Mulas Heirs. Everything i say riservati Ugo Mulas

Pino Pascali Mitragliatrice, 1966 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fractional and promised gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, 2000, Pino Pascali Contraerea, 1965 Collezione privata. Courtesy Luxembourg + Co., Pino Pascali Cannone semovente, 1965 Private collection, Pino Pascali Missile “Colomba della Pace”, 1965 Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota

Pino Pascali La decapitazione della scultura, 1966 Private collection, Pino Pascali La decapitazione delle giraffe, 1966 Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, Pino Pascali Testa di drago, 1966 Collezione Ronnie Sassoon. 

Pino Pascali Pelo, 1968 Private collection, Pino Pascali Solitario, 1968 Private collection