Dictionary
Spazialismo

The term "Spazialismo" refers to a style, which was pioneered by Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) in 1946. During the same year, Fontana articulated the basic premise of Spazialismo in the Manifesto Blanco, which he wrote in Argentina during World War Two, and published in Buenos Aires. Further publications followed.
Fontana and his collaborators believed that an image should not be confined to picture plane and limited to two-dimensionality. It should instead project into the surrounding space. The term "Spazialismo" was thus highly appropriate, as "spazio" means space in Italian. At the same time, the representatives of Spazialismo, which also included Mario Deluigi (1901-78) and Tancredi (Tancredi Parmeggiani, 1927-64), ensured that the newly attained space was linked with colour and a temporal dimension, as part of an attempt to create new pictorial forms.
Fontana was the most successful in implementing this idea. He made slits, holes and indentations in the canvas, transforming the surface into a three-dimensional work. This process produced various openings in the picture, which were either independent or connected with the paint added to the canvas. This approach was also applied to a number of works in Fontana’s comprehensive graphic oeuvre.