“We are continuing the evolution of art,” Lucio Fontana once said. Before he began slashing canvases—wielding a knife with precision to create works that fused sculpture, painting, and performance—he was experimenting with ceramics in 1920s Argentina, a practice he continued through the decades and across continents. Some pieces are figurative, like a 1950 terracotta crucifix, black with a gold Christ—a blurred vision of the Baroque. Others are more whimsical, such as a lopsided banana and pear from 1938—provocative during the years of Fascist Italy, when classicism, martial imagery, and conformity were valued. And then there’s his miniature Battle (1947), which looks like a clump of seaweed, aubergine and teal, until you look closer and see a chaos of human figures. Not to be forgotten are Fontana’s abstract “Spatial Concept” works. This show brings us a lesser-known but fascinating facet of the man’s oeuvre. —Elena Clavarino