ART-CITIES:N.York-Julio Le Parc
A forerunner of Op Art and Kinetic Art, a founder member of Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, Julio Le Parc is a forthright, committed artist. His abundant work, in its many forms, imbued with a spirit of research and experiment, explores the visual field, movement, light, and the relationship between the work and the viewer.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Perrotin Archive
The first solo exhibition of Julio Le Parc In New York wince 1973 is on presentation at Galerie Perrotin with works and selected iconic Installations, illustrating 50 years of work that includes ongoing research and experimentation. On show are two paintings from the “Modulation” series alongside four from the “Alchimie” series which are impressively large in scale. In “Alchimie 332” (2016), we see a large black center circled by overlapping pink, green, and orange dots, clustering intensely where they overlap, scattering out against a black background as if atomized, creating an effect that is simultaneously disorientating and hypnotic. Also on presentation is the three-dimensional composition “Sphère bleu fluo” (2001-16) that is 2.20 meter in diameter, formed from hundreds of blue translucent plexiglas slats, creating transparency, movement and light that shifts with the air as well as by the position of the viewer, also in the exhibition are on presentation two key light Installations, “Continuel-lumière avec 49 cylindres ” (1967-2016), and “Lumières alternées” (1993-2011). Julio Le Parc, was born on 23/9/28, his family moved to Buenos Aires in 1942, and he attended evening classes at the School of Fine Arts there, where his teacher was Lucio Fontana. He moved to Paris in 1958 with the help of a scholarship from the French Embassy Cultural Service, and there he studied the works of contemporary and avant-garde artists. His first experiments with light were conducted in 1959, he placed the light in small boxes which reproduced, multiplied and combined with the screens made of Plexiglas slates, prisms, squares and circle shapes, using a scale of 14 colors. In 1960, he co-founded the G.R.A.V (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel) with Horacio Garcia Rossi, François Morellet, Francisco Sobrino, Joël Stein, and Yvaral (Jean-Pierre Vasarely). The aim of the G.R.A.V was to create art that was accessible to everyone, where the viewer can touch and handle the works. His first solo exhibition was held in 1966 at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, followed by the Denise René Gallery in Paris. He was expelled from France following the May 1968 upheaval, in which he took an active part (a poster workshop), but returned to Paris a few months later following the protests of French artists and intellectuals. The G.R.A.V. was wound up shortly afterwards. He disagreed with the artistic precepts of the period, cancelled his participation in Documenta and boycotted the Sao Paulo Biennale.Le Parc wants to provoke a specific reaction: on seeing his work, the viewer will lose his bearings, and will look around to create a new perspective. His “Jeux de lumière” for example, are more than a simple visual effect, they question our relationship with the world. And light itself is more than a simple medium; it allows Le Parc to achieve his aim and create a work that is constantly changing. The result is an unforeseeable and infinite play of light and shade. For visitors, it is an immersive aesthetic experience. For the artist, it is a matter of “Initiating and pursuing the demolition of the traditional concepts of art, its construction, its presentation, and its appreciation”.
Info: Galerie Perrotin, 909 Madison Avenue 73 Street, Upper East Side, New York, Duration 4-19/11/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.perrotin.com
