In 1959, Armando Marrocco, who was just 20 years old at the time, met the famous Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana, who was taken by the young southern Italian artist’s interest in Art Informel. By 1962, Fontana had encouraged Marrocco to move to Milan. There the artist developed a practice that bridged an abstraction of precision with a symbolic gesturality, informed as much by mathematicians Fibonacci and Luca Pacioli as by the beauty of Renaissance craftsmanship.

Marrocco began his Intrecci series in the early 1960s, consisting of vibrant monochromatic works made of enamel on cardboard. These works defined his methodology for years to come. Intrecci means intertwining; in these works, layered and woven cardboard sheets are transformed from humble substrate into intriguing, substantial objects through the artist’s application of enamel paint. The artist has said that he considers these works a metaphorical “interweaving of human situations, positive and negative.” The works, both in their ordinary and profound qualities, speak to the complex experiences of life.