Brisbane CBD | Arnaldo Pomodoro

 
Arnaldo Pomodoro

This sculpture gained a lot of recognition from non art appreciators thanks to the more modern Dr Who tv series. The sculpture is titled 'Forme del Mito' It's a set of four bronze sculptures all representing an element, in this case, a person from an ancient Greek myth... from the bronze age!

I grew up reading a lot! I loved mythology so this sculpture was a no brainer when it came to picking a favourite.

Let me set some context! The myth starts with the wedding of Peleus (the King of Phthia) and Thetis (a  sea nymph and one of 50 daughters of a primordial God, Nereus.

Nereus was the offspring of Gaia (Earth) and her son Pontus (a sea deity) This probably isn't important to the story but since Gaia is the grandmother of our Olympian Gods you can imagine when an offspring gets married the entire family gets invited, including all the Gods and Goddess's

Except one.. Eris the Goddess of Discord.. Feeling slighted Eris gifted the couple a golden apple inscribed with 'To the Fairest' Naturally all the Goddesses; Aphrodite (the Goddess of love) Hera (The goddess of women, marriage and childbirth) and Athena (the Goddess of war and wisdom) quarreled relentlessly with each declared themselves the owner.

They enlisted a third party mortal to award this prized apple and found a shepherd attending his flock to deliver a verdict. Each Goddesses offered this mortal a bribe with the mortal awarding the apple to Aphrodite on her promise to gift him the most beautiful woman in the world.

This is where the sculptures come into play

This woman was named Helen. She was the daughter of Tyndareus, the King of Sparta and married to Menelaus, the Prince of Mycenae.

To secure the throne Tyndareus married a second daughter (Clytemnestra) to Menelaus's brother, Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae then abdicated the throne leaving the brothers to rule with their new Queens

In this series of sculptures the great pyramid known as 'Il potere' represents Agamemnon and symbolizes 'power' 

One day Aphrodite arranged for the young shepherd to sneak into the court of Menelaus and Helen where Eros (Cupid) waited to shoot Helen with his love arrow and fulfill Aphrodite's promise to the young man. Helen fell instantly in love and agreed to secretly run away with him.   

The young shepherds name was Paris who just happened to be a Prince of Troy. Most of us know how this story goes but the story isn't about Helen and Paris, so much. The story is about Agamemnon. 

Agamemnon left his wife, Clytemnestra, his children and his home to pursue Helen and bring her home for Meneleus as they believed Helen had been abducted. Before he did so he sacrificed a daughter to the Gods for good favor.

The round cylinder, or golden Darlek, known as 'L'ambizione' represents Clytemnestra and symbolizes 'ambition' 

The battle of Troy went on for a good decade. Clytemnestra likely believed Agamemnon was never coming home so she took a lover named Aegisthus

After a clever ploy to enter the city and breach Troy from the inside Agamemnon was successful in his campaign to conquer Troy and bring Helen home. Among the spoils was the doomed prophetess Cassandra whom Agamemnon took as a lover.

You'll have to forgive me here. I didn't take enough photos and the sculptures weren't clearly marked with plaques so I may have Aegisthus and Cassandra mixed up. Aegisthus was cropped from a much larger photo hence the poor quality.

I believe this sculpture to be 'La profezia' which represents Cassanda and symbolizes 'Prophecy'

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When Agamemnon returned home with Cassandra it sparked an inconsolable rage in Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra. Both for her lost child Agamemnon slaughtered and the new concubine he brought home. Clytemnestra conspired with her lover, Aegisthus, to murder the pair and was successful in doing so.

I believe the tall rectangle with the solid square to be 'La macchina' and representee of Aegisthus who symbolizes the 'Machine'

Clytemnestra and Aegisthus were in turn murdered some years later by Orestes, Clytemnestra and Agamemnon son. The act of revenge begun Orestes descent into madness.