Between the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, in the context of the process of modernization and the emergence of mass society, a particular modality or typology of production and exhibition of artistic works emerged: artist’s multiples. Halfway between the restricted scale of the unique piece and massive industrial productions, multiples —which linked fine arts, graphic design, and industrial design— could consist of engravings, graphic editions, ceramics, or other types of multipliable objects made by artists. They all shared the characteristic of seeking to defetishize the unique artistic object, thus enabling access and democratization of artworks, bringing them closer to an audience that was not necessarily initiated in building a collection.
Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc defined multiples as “an artistic proposition conceived to be multiplied thanks to its industrial possibilities” and in his Multiple Manifesto he points out that their genealogy could be traced back to Mondrian, geometric art, and optic and kinetic works.
The typology of multiples had great relevance in the artistic production of Le Parc and other artists associated with kinetic art, such as Carlos Cruz-Diez or Jesús Rafael Soto. Despite the differences between the works of these artists, the presence of multiples among their production is explained by an interest that they all shared: creating a non-elitist abstract art, aimed to demystify the artwork and bring other audiences closer to art.
CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ (Caracas, Venezuela, 1923 - Paris, France, 2019)
Carlos Cruz-Diez was one of the most prominent figures of Kinetic art whose work has been based upon the revaluation of color as an experience in itself, as a phenomenon of light in which interpretation or cultural background is no longer relevant. Part of this research comes from photography. His artistic practice invites viewers to become conscious of how perceptual relationships constitute the aesthetic, and how every context implies a different approach and construction of the same artwork.
His research has positioned him as one of the key thinkers of the 20th century when it comes to color. He has contributed majorly to the possibility of rethinking the relations between artist, spectator, and art, framing them within a participative process rooted exclusively in the use of color. In 1959 Cruz-Diez began his series Physichromie, through which he realized the idea of chromatic autonomy and its impact upon the viewer’s environment; one of the results was an important body of work that in later decades surpassed the limits of painting and explored the transformation of diverse spaces through the manipulation of color.
His work emphasizes participation and interaction, spatial perception, and movement as the key elements of the artistic experience.
Carlos Cruz-Diez
G1, Series: Colour Additive Germania, 2019
Screenprint in colors on heavyweight wove paper
100 x 100 cm
39 1/4 x 39 1/4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
G3, Series: Colour Additive Germania, 2019
Screenprint in colors on heavyweight wove paper
100 x 100 cm
39 1/4 x 39 1/4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Serie Cardiaca Oval 1, 2011
Chromography on paper
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
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Carlos Cruz-Diez
Color Aditivo Rosmira 1, 2016
Chromography on Paper
27.9 x 43.2 cm
11 x 17 in
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Carlos Cruz-Diez
Transchromie à six éléments, 2010
Plexiglass
54 x 16 x 16 cm
21 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Couleur à l'Espace Ariel 1, 2011
Chromographie on PVC and steel bar
52 x 12 x 12 cm
20 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Transchromie à trois éléments, 2011
Plexiglass
54 x 13 x 13 cm
21 1/4 x 5 x 5 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Stèle Horizontale 1, 2008 - 2009
Enamel on polychromed ceramic
19 x 94.5 x 6.5 cm
7 1/2 x 37 1/4 x 2 1/2 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Chromointerférence manipulable La Difference, 2011
Chromography on plexiglass
40 x 35 x 10 cm
15 3/4 x 13 3/4 x 4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Couleur à l'Espace Nova, 2012
Chromography on PVC and steel bar
52 x 12 x 12 cm
20 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 in
Edition 40 of 75
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Carlos Cruz-Diez
Color Aditivo Poyoronk, 2011
Chromography on paper
33 x 48.5 cm
13 x 19 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Cromoestructura M3, 1984
Chromography on aluminum
50 x 50 x 10 cm
19 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 4 in
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Color Aditivo Cantarrana 2, 2016
Lithography on paper
70 x 100 cm
27 1/2 x 39 1/4 in
JESÚS RAFAEL SOTO (Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, 1923 - París, Francia, 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
Paralelas vibrantes, 1979
Silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
44 x 27 x 8 cm
17 1/4 x 10 3/4 x 3 1/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Vibración en la masa transparente, 1968
Silkscreen on plexiglass
24 x 12 x 8 cm
9 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 3 1/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Composition, 1974
Silkscreen printing
64 x 64 cm
25 1/4 x 25 1/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Estela, 2004
Glass, painting on metal and nylon
70 x 17 x 17 cm
27 1/2 x 6 3/4 x 6 3/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Composition, 1974
Silkscreen printing
64 x 64 cm
25 1/4 x 25 1/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Espiral doble, 1955
Silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
39 x 39 x 15 cm
15 1/4 x 15 1/4 x 6 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Espiral con amarillo, 1995
Silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
39 x 39 x 15 cm
15 1/4 x 15 1/4 x 6 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Sérigraphie Theospacio, 1989
Silkscreen printing
99 x 71 cm
39 x 28 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
s/t, 1990
Silkscreen printing
22 x 23 cm
8 3/4 x 9 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Ecriture C.F.D.T., 1988
Silkscreen printing
30 x 75 cm
11 3/4 x 29 1/2 in
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Jesús Rafael Soto
s/t, 1990
Silkscreen printing
22 x 23 cm
8 3/4 x 9 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Multiple S, 1993
Paint and silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
42 x 42 x 10 cm
16 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 4 in
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Jesús Rafael Soto
Mur polychrome C.F.D.T., 1988
Silkscreen printing
48 x 74 cm
19 x 29 1/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Naranja y plata, 1982
Silkscreen printing
69 x 50 cm
27 1/4 x 19 3/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Punto morado y tes negras, 1982
Silkscreen printing
69 x 50 cm
27 1/4 x 19 3/4 in
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Jesús Rafael Soto
Punto marrón y tes blancas, 1982
Silkscreen printing
70 x 50 cm
27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Carré virtuel bleu à droite, 1979
Serigraphy on paper
60 x 60 cm
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 in
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Jesús Rafael Soto
Carré virtuel rouge à droite, 1979
Silkscreen printing
60 x 60 cm
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 in
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Jesús Rafael Soto
L'échelle bleue, 1962
Silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
50 x 35 x 12 cm
19 3/4 x 13 3/4 x 4 3/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Tes azules y negras, 1979
Silkscreen on plexiglass, metal
50 x 50 x 12 cm
19 37/54 x 19 37/54 x 4 92/127 ins
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Jesús Rafael Soto
Rombo con marrón, 1974
Silkscreen printing
77 x 57 cm
30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Medio círculo blanco, 1974
Silkscreen printing
77 x 57 cm
30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Untitled (miroir), 2004
Screenprint on plexiglass and mirror
50 x 50 x 4 cm
19 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1 1/2 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Maquette de la sphère Lutetia, 1995
Plexiglass and painted metal
55 x 45 x 45 cm
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Jesús Rafael Soto
Permutación (Série SINTESIS), 1965
Plexiglass and metallic bars
70 x 30 x 13 cm
27 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 5 in
Julio Le Parc (Mendoza, Argentina,1928)
Julio Le Parc is one of the most renowned figures in the field of research, and experimental visual arts focused on both modern op-art, whose influence spans from the mid-20th century to the present. He studied at the National University of the Arts in Argentina, where he was first interested in the relationships between light and form. Immersed in the radical environment of the student movements of his native country, between 1955 and 1958, he participated in the occupations of the Academy of Fine Arts and the reformulation of its programs, oriented by the proposals of avant-garde artists such as the Arte-Concreto-Invención movement and where he met the influential art critic Jorge Romero Brest.
In 1958 he traveled to Paris after receiving a scholarship from the French Cultural Service, where he met artists such as Victor Vasarely and other important representatives of Kinetic art. From them, Le Parc extracted not only its formal proposals regarding movement but also its political implications to articulate aesthetic experiences without the need for previous knowledge or any sort of familiarity with the art world. Such implications derived into collective practices of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), of which he was a founding member, guided by a rejection of the position of art in capitalism. The collective emphasized anonymity and the participation of spectators through the application of industrial, mechanical, and kinetic techniques alike.
Afterwards, he participated in the Atelier Populaire during May 68 in France, as well as in various avant-garde radical publications, anchoring his production – always close to Kinetism – in a social and political commitment that conceives spectators no longer as participants in the work, but as co-authors of it.
He currently lives and works in Paris, France.
Julio Le Parc
Ondes a partir d'un theme de 1972, 1972-2018
Serigraphy on paper
70 x 100 cm
27 1/2 x 39 1/4 in
Julio Le Parc
La Longue Marche, 1974-1975
Serigraphy on paper
68 x 68 cm
26 3/4 x 26 3/4 in
Julio Le Parc
Développement de cercles et de carrés, 1958-2018
Lithography on paper
50 x 45 cm
19 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Julio Le Parc
Mobile Rectangle dans l'espace, 1967-2009
Mirrors on nylon cords
63.5 x 30 x 30 cm
25 x 11 ¾ x 11 ¾ in
Julio Le Parc
Polyedre Virtuel Sur Noir, 2020
Stainless steel, black glossy and nylon
80 x 80 cm
31 1/2 x 31 1/2 in
Julio Le Parc
Losange Virtuel Sur Miroir, 2020
Stainless steel, mirror and nylon
110 x 60 cm
43 1/4 x 23 1/2 in
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Julio Le Parc
Mobile Bleu Translucide, 2017
Wood and plexiglass
110 x 60 x 12 cm
43 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 4 3/4 in
Julio Le Parc
Série 23 n° 12-6, 1971
Serigraphy on paper
74 x 74 cm
29 1/4 x 29 1/4 in
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Julio Le Parc
Série 23 n° 13-5, 1971
Serigraphy on paper
74 x 74 cm
29 1/4 x 29 1/4 in
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Julio Le Parc
Série 14-4, 1971
Serigraphy on paper
74 x 74 cm
29 1/4 x 29 1/4 in
Julio Le Parc
Série 23 n° 12-7, 1971
Serigraphy on paper
74 x 74 cm
29 1/4 x 29 1/4 in