A self-portrait of Lucio Fontana

The exhibition Lucio Fontana. A self portrait, set up in Villa of the Masterpieces, seat of the Magnani Rocca Foundation a Mamiano di Traversetolo takes its cue from the interview with the art historian Carla Lonzi all'Artist.

Carla Lonzi  began his journey by collaborating with important galleries and periodicals and presenting the work of Carla Accardi at the 1964 Venice Biennale. In the same period, he began collecting interviews with leading artists, including Fontana himself, with the aid of a tape recorder , then transcribed and reassembled in the volume Self portrait from 1969. 

The exhibition therefore narratively follows the conversation between the critic and the artist, allowing the creation of an anthological path that touches the salient and peculiar moments of Lucio Fontana's research, an itinerary in the thought and practice of an artist who believed that art should be experienced through a new dimension, within which new technologies and materials also entered. Works from various periods are exhibited, from sculptures from the 1930s to Spatial concepts (Holes and Cuts) from the 1940s to the 1960s, in addition to the Theaters and at Nature bronze. Of particular note are New York 10 from 1962, copper panels with lacerations and graffiti, in dialogue with the light to evoke the sparkling modernity of the metropolis, and The end of God, 1963, a large work made with oil, gashes, holes, graffiti and sequins on canvas, emblematic of the artist's spatial and religious conception.

The path ends with works by Enrico Baj, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Luciano Fabro, Piero Manzoni, Giulio Paolini, Paolo Scheggi, from Fontana's personal collection, younger artists he followed and promoted. The photographic series taken by Ugo Mulas in Fontana, of which two works belonging to the great photographer are also exhibited; one of them exhibits photographic documentation of the entire genesis, from the first "hole" to the finished work, a unique both in the history of the photographer and that of the artist.

A peculiarity of the project is having recovered the audio of the original and integral conversation, where you can hear the direct voice of Fontana talking about his work, his life as an artist, his activity as a collector but also about experiences and adventures. daily. Fontana's words are used both as a sound installation and as a narrative thread throughout the course of the exhibition Self portrait.