Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

Paolozzi at 100

Eduardo Paolozzi, Untitled (from Moonstrips Empire News), 1967.

Jan 27 – Apr 21, 2024
The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL, United Kingdom

Eduardo Paolozzi was not a fan of conformity. Known for Pop sculptures, collages, and graphic work, his art addressed the waste and deadness of society’s conventions. One of his most famous series was titled “Bunk!” He said, “I like to make use of everything, I can’t bear to throw things away … sometimes I feel like a wizard in Toytown.” Born in 1924 in Leith, a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Paolozzi had a noteworthy childhood. He spent several vacations at fascist youth camps in Italy, was interned by the U.K. government for several months during W.W. II, and lost his father, who was interned as well but then sent to Canada in a ship that was sunk by the Germans. Paolozzi began his artistic career after feigning insanity as a way to leave the Royal Pioneer Corps. To celebrate the centennial of his birth, this exhibition re-creates his studio and displays his most famous works. —Jeanne Malle

Photo: © Trustees of the Paolozzi Foundation