When I sit in front of one of my slashes, contemplating it, I suddenly feel a great relaxation of the spirit, I feel like a man freed from the slavery of matter, a man who belongs to the vastness of the present and the future.
Titling: One slash = Spatial Concept: Expectation • Multiple slashes = Spatial Concept: Expectations
Technique: Sharp and regular slashes on the canvas, anilines or water-based paint
Lucio Fontana finds in the Spatial Concepts: Expectations the most famous and iconic expression of Spatialism. These pictorial works, which have been created since 1958, present one or more slashes. In the case of a single slash the title is Spatial Concept: Expectation, when there are multiple, it is called Spatial Concept: Expectations. These slashes are sharp and regular, made with the intent to go beyond the surface of the canvas.
The slashes have been interpreted, over time, even in "fanciful" and completely senseless ways. On a well-known art portal there is even a reference to intercourse. Well, Fontana had everything in mind except intercourse. Reconstructing Fontana's thought is not difficult, because he is an artist who wrote extensively and gave numerous interviews.
It is the overcoming of the limits imposed by the pictorial surface, the search for a fourth dimension. "Cosmic" space, that which goes beyond matter. Fontana's will is to show that beyond so sought after in art, without however giving an answer. The background behind the slash is black. What remains is therefore what is defined by the title of this cycle of works: "Spatial Concept/Expectations", a concept about space, the expectation of what comes after.
The slashes represent the most famous expression of Spatialism, the one that made Fontana famous worldwide. From a purely technical point of view, their execution is anything but simple.
The slashes represent the most famous expression of Spatialism, the one that made Fontana famous worldwide. From a purely technical point of view, their execution is anything but simple.
The works of this cycle are characterized by a path of experimentation that also involved the choice of pictorial materials. When Fontana began creating the slashes in 1958, he mainly used anilines to color the canvases. These early slashes often appeared as small curved or diagonal penetrations, sometimes arranged in tight sequences, with a more experimental character and less precision and sharpness of the slashes compared to the works created from 1960-1961 onwards.
From around 1960, the artist progressively adopted water-based paint, which revolutionized the final rendering of the works. This water-diluted paint, normally used for domestic purposes, offered fundamental technical characteristics: it dried quickly and guaranteed a perfectly smooth and uniform surface, without brush strokes. Water-based paint allowed Fontana to execute even sharper and more precise slashes, transforming the gesture into an act of extreme rigor. The slashes on pure monochromes created with this technique became the emblem of his full artistic maturity.
