Fabbriano (1936-2019) - Composizione Astratta

AUTHOR

Ivano Fabbri, known by the pseudonym Fabbriano (1936-2019), was an Italian painter. He was born in Ferrara and from childhood showed an early inclination for spatula painting, a passion that later led him to abandon a secure factory job to devote himself entirely to his artistic vocation. His path unfolded through an intense period of travels in Europe, from Austria, Germany, France and Spain, where he came into contact with major creative centers and international museums. In the 1960s he initially joined Viennese Actionism, but the true turning point arrived thanks to the meeting with Oskar Kokoschka in Munich; the Expressionist master sensed his talent, promoting him at important galleries and facilitating his first solo show in 1970. In those years the artist deepened his study of Modigliani and entered the Spanish scene with the informal synthesis group, forging ties with the poet Rafael Alberti and studying the masters of the Siglo de Oro, while maintaining a solid emotional and professional bond with his wife, the Ferrara-born artist Adriana Mastellari.

From the 1970s onward, Fabbriano developed a cultivated language that anticipated the currents of anachronism and citationalism, reworking Mannerist and Baroque icons through a complex mixed technique that fused oil, pastel, collage, engraving, and photographic emulsions. His subjects ranged from Spanish bullfights to visions of the Divine Comedy, addressing civil themes such as the deterioration of artistic heritage and engaging with major Italian contemporaries such as Emilio Vedova, Ennio Calabria, and Pietro Annigoni. His international fame, sealed by the prestigious Joan Miró Prize in 1984, led him to run three studios simultaneously in Europe and to exhibit up to China, Mexico, and the United States, before dedicating himself, at the end of the century, to the experimentation of computer art. After 2000 he chose to reinforce ties with his Ferrarese and Po Valley roots, continuing his artistic research in his homeland until his death in 2019 in his hometown.

Description

"Abstract Composition", mixed media of oil and collage on canvas, 49 × 39 cm with frame, 35 × 25 cm the canvas alone, 1973, signed and dated at the bottom left. On the back, on the frame’s upright, the artist’s signature and studio address.

In the work, a strongly plastic central core is staged, looming powerfully against a minimalist horizon. The central figure, recalling natural forms or fragments of primordial matter, seems to float in a suspended space, clearly divided between a dark, deep earth and a sky of a clear, flat blue. This compositional choice endows the subject with spatiality, transforming abstraction into a concrete presence that invites the viewer to a visual inquiry into the boundaries between the real and the imagined.

From a technical standpoint, the work reveals Fabbriano's extraordinary mastery of mixed media, blending oil application with the complexity of collage on paper. The "sign", an element that has fascinated the artist since childhood, emerges forcefully at the heart of the composition, where graphic textures and tactile inserts overlap in a play of light and shadow. The color contrasts are skilfully balanced: the coldness of the sky dialogues with the earthy tones of the supporting plane, while the central core gathers a variety of neutral shades and black graphic lines, creating an internal dynamism that breaks the immobility of the surrounding landscape.

The work belongs to the crucial decade of the 1970s, a period in which the artist, after his experience with Viennese Actionism and his encounter with Kokoschka, feels the influence stemming from his encounter with Emilio Vedova. A piece of refined stylistic and technical execution, with a sophisticated aesthetic impact.

Condition Report

Excellent overall condition. The painting is intact in every part, with vivid and well-visible texture and brushwork. The frame is included as a complimentary item.

Tracked and insured shipment with adequate packaging.