Physichromie no 1863, 2013
mixed media
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches; 100 x 100 centimeters
LSFA# 13210
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Evolving Color
May 17 - July 26, 2014
Carlos Cruz-Diez (born 1923) is a major figure in the field of kinetic art and one of the movement's most original thinkers on the subject of color.
Born in Venezuela and based in Paris since 1960, the artist has researched and experimented with the phenomenon of color via three chromatic conditions: subtractive, additive and reflective. For Cruz-Diez, color is not dependent on form. Color is an event unto itself, possessed of distinct properties and responsive to physical circumstance. In much the same way man lives and exists in an evolving universe, Cruz-Diez posits color as a similarly evolving and energetic presence. In his artwork, the viewer's experience of seeing is transformed without anecdotes or symbols into a dialogue between equals.
His work is well-known in the United States as a result of a number of solo and group exhibitions going back to 1961, notably: The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, 1965; Latin American Artist of the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, 1993; Inverted Utopias: Avant-garde Art in Latin America, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) Houston, 2004; Carlos Cruz-Dies: (In) Formed by Color, The Americas Society, 2008; and the vast retrospective, Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time, Museum of fine Arts, Houston, (MFAH), Houston, 2011, among others.