Mazzoleni returns to Frieze Masters this year with a booth dedicated to the transformative power of the new artistic languages of the 1950s and 1960s with reflections on gestural abstraction and the manipulation of the pictorial space. Artists form the Post-War movement known as Informal Art– such as Hans Hartung and Georges Mathieu– will be juxtaposed with the Spatialism of Lucio Fontana, the new realism of Alberto Burri and the 'extroflections' (or 'shaped canvases') by Agostino Bonalumi, an artist from the younger generation who sought to investigate the liminal space between painterly surfaces and sculptural forms with a focus on materials rather than gesture. A final focus on the 'Black and White' period of Op Art's pioneer Victor Vasarely will conclude the presentation.
Mazzoleni also participates in Frieze Sculpture, showcasing Marinella Senatore's light sculpture Bodies in Alliance by the entrance of Frieze from 12–16 October 2022. Another light sculpture by Senatore will be also on display at the Embassy of Italy in London on 13 October 2022 (by invitation) for the third edition of 'Italy at Frieze', an exhibition that celebrates Italian contemporary art during Frieze week.
The poetics of Lucio Fontana's oeuvre proceeds from an analysis of the virtual space (the space of the work) that the artist tries to intersect with the real space. This process is oriented in two different directions: the first is the informal 'baroque', polychromatic, and multi-material works, such as Concetto spaziale (1957), and the second is that of the essentiality of the 'cuts', monochromatic and rigourist, exemplified by the red, single slash Concetto Spaziale, Attesa (1966).
Fontana's informal gestural 'baroque' work will dialogue with Hans Hartung's 'grattage' technique– of which T1963-E10 (1963) is an example– and Georges Mathieu's lyrical abstraction, characterised by a performative element, as Mathieu was the first artist to organise live painting performances and happenings from as early as 1954.
The other 'soul' of Fontana's work– that monochromatic and rigorous– dialogues with Agostino Bonalumi's so-called 'estroflessioni ('extroflections' or 'shaped canvases'), suspended in a liminal space between painterly surfaces and sculptural forms created through the use of wooden structures at the backs of canvases to stretch and deform them. Taking inspiration from the bulges in his canvases– labelled by critic Gillo Dorfles as pitture-oggetti ('painting-objects')– Bonalumi also created freestanding sculptures in various materials, such as the Bronzo on display. The light, reflecting on the curved shaped bronze, creates free geometrical configurations that give corporeal life to such solid material. Mazzoleni represents the artist's estate, Archivio Bonalumi, Milan.
The sculpture by Fausto Melotti, Disegno nello spazio (1981), completements the sculptural presentation with thin threads of brass. The weightlessness of its filiform and fragile structures 'draws' in the space, creating a harmonious composition of cosmic inspiration.
A final focus on the 'Black and White' period of Op Art's pioneer Victor Vasarely will conclude the presentation at Frieze Masters whilst offering a completion of the exhibition, VICTOR VASARELY. Einstein in the Sky with Diamonds, curated by Arnauld Pierre, opening at the gallery on 12 October. Dominated by the work Einstein-Ker (1976) in reference to Albert Einstein, this upcoming exhibition will offer a connection between the artist's early and late production and the scientific discoveries of his time. The curated selection of compositions will showcase Vasarely's experimentations with the activation of the surface by the use of small and repeated geometric units in reference to modern astronomy and physics.