Concetto spaziale

Nineteen forty-nine marked a pivotal year in Fontana’s career: in addition to creating his first spatial environment, he made his first series of buchi (hole) paintings. Rather than slashing the canvas, as he would a decade later, he punctured it, creating holes of varying sizes. By piercing the painting in
this way, Fontana initiated an investigation of space that he would continue throughout his entire life.
In Concetto spaziale, these tiny holes create a universe in and of themselves, the bounds of which are delineated by a thick line drawn in white pastel that encases this constellation of points. Towards the bottom left of the work, a cluster of glass pieces is nestled into Fontana’s punctures—a detail which earns this work its spot in the artist’s Pietre (Stones) series. Protruding from the otherwise two-dimensional plane, these chunks appear almost meteor-like in their configuration within the universe created by the perforated black velvet background. While the holes themselves were intended to serve as tiny channels for light to pass through, Fontana often utilized pieces of colored glass to provide further illumination due to its refractive properties. Moreover, these multihued additions introduced an alternate sense of depth and perspective that enhanced the celestial quality of the work. Fontana’s signature cuts owe their inception to the artist’s early experimentations with spatial intervention through canvas perforation.