(Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, 1923 - Paris, France, 2005)
Jesús Rafael Soto was an influential and central figure of post-war global modernism. He participated in the group exhibition Le mouvement (1955), at the Denise René Gallery in Paris, one of the foundational moments of the style. Throughout his career, he was prominent for the redefinition of the social role of art, rooted in wide research about the spatial-temporal quality of the artistic object.
Soto studied Fine Arts in Caracas, then he moved to Paris in 1950, where he became a part of the international group of artists that sought to renew the experimental art scene. Even though he has been commonly associated with Op Art, Soto’s work is rather characterized by the continuous study of movement and the dematerialization of the form, producing kinetic constructions where the active participation of the spectator is fundamental.
In 1958 he began Vibraciones, a series consisting of the overlap, in various levels, of grids and mobile objects that create infinite possibilities of vibrations and variations. Soto managed to create works accessible to all people, without marking the differences of age or cultural capital of the public, appealing to the very experience of the viewer in relation to the artistic object.
Jesús Rafael Soto
Colores y vibración, 1999
Painting on wood and metal, nylon strings
239 x 259 x 17 cm
94 x 102 x 6 1/2 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Tes blancs et noirs, 1990
Painting on wood and metal
102 x 102 x 17 cm
40 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 6 3/4 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Plata y color, 1996
Painting on wood and metal
103 x 102 x 17 cm
40 27/49 x 40 17/108 x 6 88/127 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Vibration blanche, 1959
Mixed media on panel
90 x 90 x 16 cm
35 1/2 x 35 1/2 x 6 1/4 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Color y cuadrados, 1988
Paint on wood and metal
63 x 62 x 14 cm
24 102/127 x 24 52/127 x 5 65/127 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Escriture Verticale Orange, 1989
Paint on wood, metal and nylon
200 x 100 x 69.80 cm
78 94/127 x 39 47/127 x 27 61/127 in
Unique
Jesús Rafael Soto
Maquette de la sphère Lutétia, 1995
Plexiglass and painted metal
55 x 45 x 45 cm
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Edition 65 of 100
Jesús Rafael Soto
Estela, 2004
Plexiglass and metallic bars
70 x 17 x 17 cm
27 19/34 x 6 88/127 x 6 88/127 in
Edition 24 of 30
