Piero Manzoni. Materials of His Time

‘Piero Manzoni. Materials of His Time’ is the first exhibition in Los Angeles devoted to a seminal figure of postwar Italian art and progenitor of Conceptualism. Curated by Rosalia Pasqualino di Marineo, director of the Piero Manzoni Foundation in Milan, this exhibition focuses on Manzoni’s revolutionary approach to unconventional materials through the exploration of what he dubbed ‘Achromes’ – paintings without color. Over 80 Achromes will be on view comprised of a variety of materials including sewn cloth, cotton balls, berglass, synthetic and natural fur, straw, cobalt chloride, polystyrene, stones, and more. The exhibition, which features works from the Fondazione Piero Manzoni, as well as private and museum collections, situates Manzoni as a peer among such artists as Lucio Fontana and Yves Klein, whose experiments continue to influence contemporary artmaking today. ‘Materials of His Time’ will also present, for the first time ever, the items on a wish Manzoni outlined in a 1961 letter to his friend Henk Peeters: a room all in white fur, and another coated in fluorescent paint, totally immersing the visitor in white light. 

The exhibition will subsequently travel to Hauser & Wirth New York and will be shown alongside ‘Piero Manzoni. Lines,’ a presentation of the artist’s series that began in 1959. On the occasion of the concurrent exhibitions, Hauser & Wirth Publishers is producing two catalogues on these major bodies of works.