Pepper’s cast-iron column achieves a monumentality that belies its ten-foot height. Named for the Roman city of Tarquinia, the sculpture was made while the artist was in Terni, Italy, and alludes to Etruscan art and archaeological sites with its rough-hewn surface and sentinel-like presence. Pepper softened and humanized the rigid metal that composes Tarquinia Cone Column by splitting the sculpture in two down to its rounded base. Throughout her career Pepper worked closely with artisans and industrial manufacturers to develop new materials and methods for creating her work; she was an early adopter of Cor-Ten steel and ductile iron.
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