Galerie Burén, Stockhlom
Private Collection, Malmö
Sotheby's, London, December 5, 1985, lot 310
Gallery Art Point, Tokyo
Private Collection, Tokyo

Tokyo, Tama Art University Museum, Lucio Fontana, Spatial Conception, 1990, cat. no. 62, p. 66, illustrated in color
Tokyo, Mitsukoshi Museum of Art; Kagoshima, Museo Municipale d'Arte di Kagoshima; Nishinomiya, Museo d'Arte Otani, Lucio Fontana, La penetrazione dello spazio, April - November 1992, cat. no. 27, p. 66, illustrated in color

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Generale, Vol. II, Milan, 1986, no. 64 O 20, p. 484, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Vol. II, Milan, 2006, no. 64 O 20, p. 678, illustrated

This work is in very good condition overall. The surface is bright, fresh and clean. There is evidence of light wear and handling toward the edges, resulting in extremely minor paint loss at the top left and bottom right corners. Close inspection reveals a one inch, horizontal line of stable hairline craquelure, 4 inches from the left edge and 2 inches from the top. There are extremely faint stretcher bar impressions along the top and bottom edges. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Concetto Spaziale is a visually arresting example from one of Lucio Fontana’s most important series. The gaping hole in the center of the canvas contrasts starkly against the bright, lusciously painted green background. Fontana’s method of creation is a purely visceral one; the artist has torn a hole in the canvas and then thrust his hand through, dragging his fingers through the oil and in towards the gash, building up the paint layer along the edge, imbuing the perimeter of the hole at once with a sense of inexorable movement towards the viewer and infinity beyond the void.

The circular incision which surrounds the missing areas of canvas and the concentric pattern etched around it is reminiscent of the orbit of a satellite within space; the artist was fascinated and subsequently inspired by the technological advancements that had enabled Yuri Gagarin to be launched as the first human being in space three years prior to the creation of the present work. As Fontana declared: "The discovery of the Cosmos is a new dimension, it is the Infinite: so I make a hole in the canvas, which is the basis for all previous art, to search for an infinite dimension." (Lucio Fontana, in an interview with Carla Lonzi in Carla Lonzi, Autoritratto, Bari 1969, p.169)  This concept of the "void" – of reaching beyond the space provided by the two dimensional canvas to reach towards the idea of the fourth dimension, unfettered  by the limitations of earthly matter – had been an ideal of avant-garde artists since the beginning of the twentieth century. Fontana’s destruction of the canvas can be seen as the culmination of a process that began with Malevich’s denial of the canvas in his Black Square, first exhibited at the 0.10 exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. Yet ultimately Concetto Spaziale moves farther than this idea; not only has Fontana moved beyond the static possibilities of canvas, so that the invisible, suggested by the demarcation of the jagged edged holes becomes more important than the visible canvas, but the boundaries between painting and scul🌜pture have been blurred to create what is effectively a completely new art form, one which abounds with e𝄹xtraordinary potential and possibility.