Jesús Rafaél Soto
Bio
(Venezuela, 1923 - France, 2005). One of the main representatives of kinetic and optical art. The development of his work started from perceptual kineticism, to then encompass the entire space, intervening in it, as a dynamic element, through the superposition of transparent planes. In 1950 he moved to Paris. In 1956 he created his first kinetic structures: his kineticism was characterized by integrating into the work the perception of the viewer moving before the object. Starting in the 1960s, he designed penetrables and works of architectural integration, large-scale tours; generating compositions through the articulation of planes formed by lattices of various inclinations. On other occasions, through modulation, he created geometric structures that through repetition reach large dimensions, prevailing the monumental sense of occupation of space.
Statement
Soto was characterized by breaking with a centuries-old tradition. There are two essential concerns in Soto. The universe as a whole: to understand, to penetrate, to reveal. and as its essential complement, the constitutive matter of that universe. Hence his reiterations on the ideas of mass, light, and energy. In the first case, Soto focuses his attention on essential aspects of the universe that surrounds him. In the second - that of artistic modes - their creations attest, and want to give vision, of what is found in a universe that is exterior and prior to art. It is important to point out the mastery of this artist in alluding to the non-visible through the visible.
Additional information
Edición de 110 ejemplares, 66/110. Edición Denise René.