Art Basel Hong Kong 2024

Fontana’s Natura series emerged in the late 1950s, consisting of terracotta or bronze sculptures in the form of single-surface pebbles or similar shell shapes, later defined by Fontana himself as ‘balloons’. His Natura pieces largely reflected the cosmic imagination, a theme often alluded to by the artist, and were in keeping with the ideals of space travel prominent in the 1960s.
In 1962, Fontana moved into jewellery design, creating small series of silver and lacquer forms applied to rings and bracelets, also inspired by space travel. At the same time, he introduced new glazed ceramics, often with lines on the sides alluding to transitions or holes resembling formless craters, which echoed his oil paintings. It was in 1967, however, that the oval sculptures marked by a cut appeared, not only in Fontana’s rings, but also in brass works such as Concetto Spaziale, Natura (1967) and in the small series of jewellery produced during this period.

These early paintings by Gianfranco Zappettini from the 1960s form a series characterised by acrylic and plastic polymer structures.
The essence behind these works is also part of the outcome of the artwork. The final result is the consequence of this thought transformed into an ‘operational process’ (we could call it a ‘method’) that gives structure and order to the work. What is visible in Zappettini’s art is always shaped by the invisible, and therein lies the absence of intentional aesthetics or deliberate beauty in his creations. In these paintings in particular, the preference for industrial or everyday materials over the more conventional mediums of traditional painters, is further evidence of the artist’s intention as well as his constant research and experimentation. The use of plastics, resins, acrylics and masonry paints serves as a visual ‘manifestation’ of the creative process in its purest form.