Born in Turin, brilliant and unpredictable, Fabro moved to Milan in 1959 to realise his first one-man show in May 1965 at the Galleria Vismara. Right from the early works from the 1960s (Ruota, 1964; Tondo e Rettangolo, 1964; In Cubo, 1966), he manifested his interest for the perception of space and the relationship between outside and inside in relation to the spectator. When the Arte Povera group was formed in 1967 around art critic Germano Celant, Fabro took part. This period gave rise to the Lenzuola and Piedi, series, where the exhibition of substance is the central element of the work. In 1968 he began the famous Italia series which he worked on all through the following decade. The silhouette of the boot-shaped peninsula, an image often associated with Italy is transformed by Fabro through the use of different media and the shape that each Italia took on depended largely on the material used. In the 1980s he created Habitat, environmental installations and in the 1990s he began realising public works.
Luciano Fabro always combined his artistic practice with theoretical research. He was founder of the Casa degli Artisti along with Jole De Sanna, Hidetoshi Nagasawa and Pino Spagnulo which is still active today in Corso Garibaldi in Milan. It was conceived not so much as a place for teaching but rather a continuous workshop for both intellectual and manual practice, the Casa has generated many young talented artists over the years. After this he moved into teaching, at the Fine Art Academies in Carrara and in Brera. Giulia Guzzini
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