The Italian Cultural Institute in New York, in collaboration with Paula Cooper Gallery, presents an exhibition of works on paper by Luciano Fabro (Turin, 1936 – Milan, 2007).
Fabro is known for his in-depth and innovative research into sculpture and space, as well as for his intense theoretical thinking and commitment as a teacher. Only two exhibitions of Fabro’s work on paper have taken place – in 2013 at the Kunst Museum in Winterthur and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Bergamo, and then in 2014 at the Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea in Foligno.
The exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, curated by Ilaria Bernardi and Silvia Fabro, aims to delve deeper into the artist's production on paper, presenting a group of works that exemplify the two principal ways Fabro understood drawing: on the one hand, as a “study for,” that is to say, closely linked to his sculptures and installations; on the other, as a “work in itself.” Both share a reflection on space, whether physical, anthropological, or natural, and on the relationship between inner and outer reality.
To coincide with Luciano Fabro: Drawing as Space, Paula Cooper Gallery will include an example from the artist's celebrated Piedi (feet) series in a forthcoming group exhibition of sculpture at 521 W 21st Street. The earliest Piedi date to the late 1960s and early 1970s, and comprise enormous claws in glass or metal emerging from silk trouser legs that descend from the ceiling. Piede Senile II (2000) is an abstracted bronze 'foot' with an elegant pleated texture made from fabric dipped in wax. The columnic form of the Piedi and their use of sumptuous materials evoke both classical Italian architecture and a sense of the Baroque.
Luciano Fabro (born in Turin, Italy in 1936) lived and worked in Milan until his death in 2007. Fabro was a prolific writer, publishing multiple texts on art theory. During his lifetime, Fabro’s work was the subject of numerous important one-person exhibitions including at the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam in 1981-82, the Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris in 1987, the Fundació Miró, Barcelona in 1990, the Kunstmuseum Luzern in 1990-1991, SFMOMA in 1992, the Centre Pompidou in 1996-97, the Tate Gallery in 1997, and the Musée Bourdelle, Paris in 2004. Between 1972 and 1997, Fabro participated in eight editions of the Venice Biennale as well as three editions of documenta in Kassel. In 2014 the first major, posthumous retrospective of his work was held at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Fabro was the recipient of awards including the Sikkens Prize, awarded from Rotterdam (1987), the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize from Rome (1993); and a Coutts Contemporary Art Award from Zurich (1994).