Voltri VII 1962

Curator: This is David Smith’s "Voltri VII," created in 1962. It’s crafted entirely from metal. Editor: Immediately, it evokes a sense of stark beauty, like silent figures frozen mid-gesture above a rickety chariot. I wonder what journey they are on? Curator: That's a compelling observation! Smith made these sculptures during his time in Voltri, Italy. He directly engaged with the iron and steel industry, using materials and tools on hand—repurposing industrial scraps, challenging high art expectations with ordinary materials. Editor: The industrial setting is evident in the sculpture’s fabrication. There's such a rough, raw quality to it. It’s not polished or refined but very immediate and physical. Almost defiant. The way he’s left the welds exposed. I feel the heat, the hammer, the sheer force of creation. Did his artistic labor connect him to the laborers there? Curator: Absolutely. Smith blurred those lines intentionally. But he wasn’t merely documenting labor; he was also channeling anxieties of the Cold War era through those human figures, which some interpret as silent witnesses or ghostly spectators. Editor: Interesting! To me they speak of resilience, the awkward beauty of imperfect forms enduring together. And the decision to raise these figures on that carriage creates an incredible visual dynamic. Like these abstract human figures are rising above…something, as you mentioned, spectating, or moving ever onwards with their wagon. Curator: It adds a layer of narrative ambiguity, definitely, reflecting perhaps the uneasy mix of progress and apprehension during the early '60s. Editor: Considering the piece as a whole and the title, I think one can certainly see Voltri VII as a testament to found beauty and unexpected emotional resonances. A true product of its environment. Curator: Yes, and its story is as much about artistic transformation as it is about material origins, an iron will shaped by industry.