TWEFX

Paolozzi became interested in the possibility of making chromed sculpture in late 1964; his interest was alerted by the regular visits of the chromer's truck to C.W. Juby's 'Alpha Engineering Works', Ipswich, where he was then making aluminium sculpture from prefabricated elements. The tower and column forms were the last in the series of chromed sculptures to be made at Juby's, and TWEFX (lot 233) is the smallest and earliest of this series; the metals were sourced either from E. Rand & Sons, Sheet Metal Works of Sproughton, Ipswich, or Drakesons, General Metal Spinners, in Camberwell, London. When the chromed sculptures were exhibited in London and New York comparisons were sometimes made between their industrialised manufacture and minimalist sculpture. Although they react with their surroundings by being shown singly or as a pair, their dazzling reflective surfaces, which evoke Brancusi, are in strong contrast with the neutral materials and sculptural anonymity of Morris or Judd.
R.S.