Tartaruga 2003

This is Julio Pomar’s ‘Tartaruga’, a bronze sculpture that could have been made any time in the last century. The palette is earthy, using bronzes, greens and gold and the artist doesn’t try to hide how the piece was made. The welding is visible, the joins between the different materials are clearly there for us to see. It's like Pomar has collected various objects - a tortoise shell, what looks like a pair of boxing gloves, a bull's head - and he has joined them together to make something new. The materials, particularly the hard bronze, add to the humour of the piece. The tortoise appears to be riding on a wheelbarrow, with a pair of legs that are too small for the animal. I love the fact that Pomar has created a surreal assemblage using a variety of different materials. It reminds me of some of Picasso’s sculpture. Like much modernist art, the piece embraces humour and the absurd, and invites many different interpretations.