Volume bianco, 1960
Oil on canvas
48× 32 × 2 in | 120 × 80 × 5 cm
Dadamaino (b. 1930, Italy – d. 2004, Italy) was an Italian artist who transitioned from medicine to art in the late 1950s. A self-taught painter from Milan, she became a prominent figure in the Italian avant-garde alongside artists like Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, influenced by the Spatialism movement. Her scientific background inspired her experimental approach to art, particularly her "hole paintings," where she punctured layers of canvas to explore light, movement, and dimension.
In the 1950s and 60s, Dadamaino was actively involved with the Zero and Spatialist movements and exhibited widely across Italy. She joined the experimental group Azimuth and held her first solo show in 1958 at the Galleria dei Bossi in Milan. Her work was featured in the Nul group exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1962, and she later became associated with the Nouvelle Tendance movement. Her works are part of major collections, including Museo del Novecento, Musée de Grenoble, Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, and the Guggenheim Museum.