The Belgian ZERO artist Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) became known as the painter of light streams and colour spectra. He experimented not only with light, but also with movement and the invisible as means to evoke natural mechanisms and to reveal universal interrelationships between human beings and the surrounding world. He used geometric principles – his passion for geometry was born out of his interest in mathematics and (Greek) philosophy – as the basis for harmony. Verheyen never gave up on traditional media and materials such as the canvas, paint, and brushes to search for the essence of our nature. 

Lucio Fontana

°1899 †1968
Born in Rosario di Santa Fé,
Died in Varese,

The Argentine-Italian visual artist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) has broadened and deepened the avant-garde of the mid-twentieth century with new concepts such as environments and Spatialism. His oeuvre consists mainly of abstract work; monochrome paintings and massive sculptures that he cuts into to add a spatial dimension. He calls this type of work work Concetto Spaziale or 'spatial concept'. Fontana brings image and space together by adding a visible intervention whereby the light becomes involved in the perception of the canvas or object. With Fontana there is no longer any question of different disciplines such as painting or sculpture, but rather of an integrated work that fuses elements of the installation (the artwork as a built-up object), the performance (the incision as action) and the environment (the artwork as environmental element).

Text: Hans Willemse
Translations: Michael Meert

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