5. He experimented with materials that were innovative for the time

“Working with the architects Baldessarri and Grisotti, we replaced [the decorative ceiling] with a new element that has become part of everyday life, neon.” (Lucio Fontana, Gli spaziali alla IX Triennale di Milano, in “Domus” n. 254, 1951)

Neon, ultraviolet light, and fluorescent paints were some of the materials that entered Lucio Fontana’s artistic vocabulary in the late 1940s, borrowed from the fields of science, technology, cinema, and industrial experimentation. The artist sensed their potential to modify the way we perceive space, and adopted them as highly innovative elements in his work.

1. His work ranged beyond “Holes” and “Cuts”
2. He was born in Argentina and moved between South America and Italy for many years
3. He founded the Spatialist movement
4. His Ambienti spaziali influenced the development of international art movements
5. He experimented with materials that were innovative for the time
6. Fontana’s first Ambiente spaziale appeared on a magazine cover in 1949
7. Fontana was fascinated by the first rocket launches into space
8. His works even appeared on television
9. He worked with the leading architects of his era