Gwacheon 1990

reinforced red concrete, 1300x600x130 cm
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Seoul, Korea

“T.T. Regarding the way your art is perceived abroad, do you remember how the Koreans, for example, interpreted or saw your work? I’m referring to the combination of your Italian, Renaissance and even Mannerist roots with the technological force of your geometries.
M.S. I would say that they were aware of an emblematic aspect of my sculpture, the emblematic sharpness of the sculptural form; and I’d like to add that they appreciated its latent association with the oriental sign…
T.T. That is to say, by Tuscan as you are, you can also touch the ideography of the Orientals.
M.S. This applies not only to the huge red curved form cutting across the Olympic Park, but also the large triangle located on the external wall – I stress external – surrounding the sculpture park of the National Museum. This is a sign you can see from three or four kilometres far and it is a red triangle, and it’s the oriental red… The red I have used from the outset is the red you find on the columns of the Indian, Japanese and Korean temples. But it’s also a Roman color, a color as ancient as iron oxide and Pompeian red.”

Scolpendo i contesti, segno per segno, una conversazione fra Mauro Staccioli e Tommaso Trini, Milano 2000