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Leonardo, Vol. 9,pp. 235-237. Pergamon Press 1976. Printed in Great Britain A CONVERSATION BETWEEN A SCULPTOR AND A PAINTER Warren Padula* and Louise A. DeSalvo** I. Warren Padula is an architect and a sculptor in steel (born in 1947) and I (L.A.D.) am a painter in oils (born in 1 9 4 2 ) . In spite of the differences in our media, I had heard through Padula’s sister, a friend of mine, that we approach our work in similar ways, reading extensively before each new series and executing many small-scale drawings for each piece. I travelled to Padula’s studio, a converted potato barn in Bridgehampton, Long Island, N.Y.,so that I could hear him talk about his working habits. Our conversation took place in his living quarters, which provided insights into his preoccupations as a sculptor. On his black refrigerator was a sign reading ‘Neo-transingesting sub-thermal duplex unit’, indicating his seriocomic obsession with mechanical things. A photograph of New Zealand aborigines with feather headdresses and a giant poster of the Cheop’s Pyramid in Egypt were hung beside a tool manufacturer’s calendar showing a seductive pin-up girl smiling and holding a pipe-threader. And there were many books around: The Secret Life of Plants, The Primal Scream, The Feeling Child, On Growth and Form, Morning of the Magicians. During the course of our chat I realized that here, as in the work of Padula. the modern and technological intermingled with the archaic and magical. The following is excerpted from our conversation. 1 1 . DeSPlvo: How did you begin to work as a sculptor? Padula: I do not recall how I began. I have been making sculptural objects since childhood. When I was a child, there was a workshop equipped with tools in the basement of my home. I was taught that a man’s job was to mend things with tools. I continue to think of tool-made sculpture as a kind of play that permits me to pursue my fantasies. D .Why do you work primarily in steel? P .I can sublimate my anger, rage and desires when working with a material such as steel. Because it is so heavy, large pieces of it are dangerous to work with. And, being a very strong and heavy material, it takes a lot of physical effort to obtain with it the results that one desires. One must concentrate on each step of a planned piece, much more than is necessary with lighter and more pliable materials. Careful preparations must be made to handle heavy plates, and welding pieces together requires the development of considerable skill. If one is distracted while welding, an error easily can be made, causing the heated steel to sputter violently and this is unpleasant, to say the least. D .How do you get started when making a new series of sculptures ? P . I devote perhaps three months ‘to reading on selected topics that provide me with an intellectual basis for a new * Sculptor livingat Hildreth Lane, Bridgehampton, Long **Painter living at 1045 Oakland Court. Teaneck, NJ Island, NY 11932,U.S.A. 07666,USA. (Received 18 Feb. 1975.) series. For example, recently I studied Thompson’s On Growth and Form and some of Einstein’s commentaries on relativity theory. I reflected long on the notion that the Earth moves through curved space. I was especially intrigued by Thompson’s chapter entitled ‘On the Theory of Transformation, or the Comparison of Related Forms’. He applies the mathematics of the deformation of a grid of coordinates that leads to a corresponding deformation or transformation of a shape inscribed in the grid, for example the shape of a fish [ l ] . What particularly attracted my attention was the way a rectilinear grid can be transformed by mathematical equations into a variety of grids made up of curved lines. Inspired by these transformations, I made preliminary drawings that became the basis of my ‘Grid Series’ of sculptures in one-inch thick Corten steel plate (Figs. 1-3). This is my latest series. My earlier works come under the designations: ‘Painted Series’, outdoor pieces incorporating circles and other geometrical shapes, which I...

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