Lucio Fontana - The Beginnings of New Media in Art

The artist I chose to research for my paper and oral presentation is Lucio Fontana (1899 - 1968), an artist who was very influential in New Media developments in art. 

Fontana was born in Argentina in 1899, but when he was six years old his family moved back to Italy.  While living in Milan Fontana decided to attend the School of Architecture at the Technical Institute Carlo Cattaneo from 1914 to 1915.  1922 Fontana moved with his father back to Buenos Aires, and perhaps due to the influence of his father’s work as a sculptor Fontana set up his first sculpture studio in 1924.  However, Fontana moved back to Milan merely four years after establishing his studio.  He took up studies once again, attending the Accademia di Brera from 1928 to 1930.

           
During this time Fontana was taught by Adolfo Wildt, whose tastes apparently ran to very monumental, plastic sculptures.  Lucio, on the other hand, is described as creating sculptures during this period which look ephemeral and tentative, yet full of life and movement – as though a slight breath could send the dream floating away.  While these works were still slightly figurative, it was not long before Fontana moved entirely into abstraction as means of communication through art.  By 1932 he was counted as a member of the Abstraction–Création group, and was producing pieces that could either be considered wall sculptures or three-dimensional paintings.  During World War II Fontana once again moved to Argentina, and helped to found the Academia Altamira for artists in 1946.  Around this time Fontana began to develop the theory that would serve as a driving force behind the rest of his art.  This concept, or indeed this movement, is Spatialism. 

Fontana does not have a website, but his images and his theories can be readily found on the internet.  One of my favorite images of his work can be seen below:

Fontana's 'Spatial Light - Structure in Neon for the 9th Milan Triennial at the Palazzo dell'Arte,' Milan (1951) is a beautiful New Media work.  The neon tubes were meant to influence how a person interacted with the environment - to break up the viewer's vision and experience and create a new type of space.  Fontana is a fascinating artist, and anyone interested in New Media should make a study of his works.

-Kelly F.