Artists: Enrico Baj - Giuseppe Capogrossi - Lucio Fontana - Asger Jorn - Wifredo Lam - Piero Manzoni - Emilio Scanavino - Roberto Crippa

Mazzoleni London presents Albisola: A Season of Artists. This exhibition celebrates the rich artistic legacy of Albisola, the Ligurian town that became a crucible of post-war artistic experimentation, collaboration, and ceramic innovation.

Timed to coincide with the lead-up to Mazzoleni’s 40th anniversary in 2026, the exhibition explores the deep personal and historical connections between Albisola and the Mazzoleni family, relationships that have shaped the gallery’s vision and programme since its founding.

Bringing together seminal works by leading figures such as Enrico Baj, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Roberto Crippa, Lucio Fontana, Asger Jorn, Wifredo Lam, Piero Manzoni, and Emilio Scanavino, the exhibition offers a rare insight into a vibrant intercultural dialogue, where avant-garde experimentation intersected with local craft traditions and intellectual exchange flourished across national boundaries.

The Mazzoleni family's relationship with Albisola began in the late 1960s, well before the gallery's establishment in 1986. Driven by a passion for collecting, Giovanni and Anna Pia Mazzoleni were drawn to the area’s creative energy and ceramic heritage. A young Luigi Mazzoleni (current gallerist) vividly recalls visiting Wifredo Lam’s hillside studio, enchanted by the objects from Africa and Papua New Guinea that filled the space; an early encounter that would help define the family’s artistic sensibilities.

Their friendship with Lam would culminate in a landmark solo exhibition at Galleria Gissi in Turin in April 1978, organised in collaboration with the family before they took over the gallery space in 1985. Nearly five decades later, Lam’s work, and that of his contemporaries drawn to Albisola, remains an integral part of Mazzoleni’s programme.

Among the works on view is Lam’s Femme Cheval (1966), a powerful portrayal of a devotee in the grip of possession by an Orisha, a deity in the Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition. Rendered with striking delicacy, the hybrid figure’s flowing mane, sensual body and fierce horns embody Lam’s vision of art as both spiritual and revolutionary, human and divine.

The exhibition also revisits the ceramic experiments of Lucio Fontana, who began working in Albisola in 1936 at Tullio d’Albisola’s father factory (the Giuseppe Mazzotti). There, he developed his Natura Morta series and later applied innovations in glazing from his time in Sèvres. His post-war return to Albisola marked a turning point: he began creating large-scale ceramics that integrated with architecture and extended his Spatialist ideas into sculpture. A key example is Concetto Spaziale (1957), a terracotta work measuring approximately 1.5 metres in length, punctured with Fontana’s iconic slashes. This dramatic gesture anticipated the radical energy of his canvases into a three-dimensional form.

Enrico Baj was another artist whose practice was deeply influenced by the small marina town, and with whom the Mazzoleni family developed a lasting relationship. Giovanni Mazzoleni fondly recalls Baj’s exhibition at Galleria Gissi in 1982, while Davide Mazzoleni (current gallerist) remembers his wit and charisma, noting that he became a key figure in the gallery’s programme. A highlight of the exhibition is Caporale (1970), a striking collage from Baj’s Generali series. Characterised by his signature use of mixed media and satire, the work offers a sharp critique of military pomp and authoritarian power structures.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring a critical essay by Luca Bochicchio, an art historian, curator, and professor at the University of Verona. Also the founder of MuDA, Museo Diffuso Albisola, which includes the Jorn House Museum, Bochicchio has spent over a decade researching the artistic legacy of the region. He describes the exhibition as “a new chapter in the ongoing story of Albisola’s impact on contemporary art,” and notes that “Mazzoleni’s case is particularly compelling in representing the still underappreciated importance of second generation of collectors and art dealers who crossed paths with Albisola during the 1960s and 1970s.”

By revisiting the artistic ferment of Albisola, Albisola: A Season of Artists not only honours a pivotal moment in post-war art history but also reflects the foundational ethos of the Mazzoleni gallery: one rooted in experimentation, dialogue, and a deep respect for artistic legacy.