From 1964 to 1966 Lucio Fontana expanded his research and experimentation with the group of works known as his teatrini or small theaters. His idea of spatial abstraction that was developed with the slashes and the holes assumed a figurative if even slightly cartoonish dimension with the teatrini. The layers of the teatrini became a kind of backdrop, stage design or landscape where some, any, action could transpire. Fontana further explored and expounded on the conceptual and figural inventions and problems with which what other artists like Scheggi (lots 11, 16), Dadamaino (lot 47) and Ceroli (lot 28) grappled. Fontana’s teatrini express very well how visual art, theatre and design had created a prolific dialogue in Italy throughout the mid-1960s. The black and deep blue color and loose bubbling forms of the foreground in this Concetto spaziale, Teatrino from 1966 reflect Fontana’s curiosity and attention towards the development of Pop Art in England and the United States at this time. He does this all while maintaining tight control of his elegance, the signature style which elevated him to the status of “dandy” of Italian and European postwar art.