Tempo moderno is part of a series of bold monochrome paintings that Schifano produced in the early 1960s. The thick surface of the works is both sensuous and round, tactile and textural. Schifano achieves this result by covering sheets of wrapping paper with enamel, an industrial lacquer generally used as house paint, and fixing them to the canvas. Schifano’s use of such unconventional art materials predated the emergence of Arte Povera.