PELLE's new lighting design is a love letter to lucio fontana

with a nod to lucio fontana’s slashed pieces, designer duo PELLE’s ‘incise paintings’ bring an imaginative approach to lighting. they offers a new perspective by introducing light into the context of a canvas to create a provocative objet d’art. the paintings inset pearlescent lights within apertures in a painted canvas, illuminating the textured layers of the surrounding surface to create an expansive field of light.

drawing comparisons to fontana’s technique of deliberately cutting into his canvases to reveal unseen spaces, PELLE’s pieces pioneer on their expressive possibilities. the conception of the cut was quite serendipitous – jean pelle first created a monochrome painting to cover an unattractive shaft window in her workspace then decided to add lightbulbs to make the piece utilitarian.

the seemingly simple gesture takes precision techniques to materialize. not only the frame and the canvas have to be made deeper to house the internal wiring structure, but the incisions also need to be formed in a certain shape to ensure no hidden compartments are exposed or buckled to hinder performance. available in a range of sizes and colors, the canvases are finished with a painted ‘PELLE’ signature, and then floated in a custom solid oak frame.

product info:

designer: PELLE

product name: incise paintings