Daedalus. 1990.
Bronze with brown patina.
Verso with name, twice dated and inscribed "Unikat". Height: ca. 157 cm (61.8 in).
A total of four slightly varying versions of the Daedalus motif are known, of which this unique work was the first one. A "Daedalus on wheels" from 1993 is in possession of the Tate Britain, London, another "Daedalus on Wheels" from 1991 is in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. [JS].

We are grateful to Professor Robin Spencer for his kind support in cataloging this lot. This work will be included into the forthcoming catalog raisonneé.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Switzerland.

Paolozzi's art was initially coined by Surrealism, in the following he became one of the most important protagonists of British Pop-Art. Later he turned to sculpting and became famous for his large true-to-life sculptures that he either combined with Cubist elements or deconstructed in a Cubist manner. With their heterogeneity Paolozzi's sculptures embody the conflicts of human existence. The artist merges the different parts and forms a new figure. "Recycling" is rephrased in the sense of a new beginning and not as an act of an ultimate disintegration, as originally intended. Organic and non-organic elements grow together in this sculpture, forming a strange unity and rigidity - as if life gave in to the continuous process of dehumanization.