BRAFA celebrates 2017 Julio Le Parc, a pioneer of optical and kinetic art, painter, influenced the development of art and its current status

Julio Le Parc (Julio Le Parc, 1928, Argentina) — artist, devoted to his ideas, the pioneer of kinetic and optic art, founder and member of G. R. A. V. (research Group of visual art), winner of the international Grand Prix-при Venice Biennale in painting 1966. His numerous and diverse works imbued with the spirit of search and experiment; the wizard explores the realm of visuality, movement, light and the relationship between the work and the viewer.

• Special guest BRAFA 2017 Julio Le Parc
  Photo: Yamil Le Parc

Biography

Julio Le Parc was born on 23 September 1928 in a modest family in Mendoza at the foot of the Andean Cordillera, 1 100 km from Buenos-Айреса. Being especially gifted in drawing, Julio began to work very early and has mastered many professions. In 1942 his family moved to Buenos-Айрес. There Le Parc attended the school of fine arts, where he taught Lucio Fontana, the founder of the spazialismo. Julio very early became interested in the artistic currents of the avant-garde and began writing his first film, making prints and monotypes. In 1958, received a grant from the Cultural Department of the Embassy of France, he moved to Paris, where he studied the works of modern and avant-garde artists. In 1960, together with the Monterrey Garcia Rossi, françois Morella, Francisco Sobrino, Stein Golem and Varlam he organized the G. R. A. V. (research Group of visual art). Task G. R. A. V. was a public art when the viewer can touch and control the works, as stated in the Manifesto, "no more hoaxes", presented at the 3-й the Paris Biennale in October 1963: "We want to interest the viewer, to liberate him, make him relax. Want to involve. I want to put him in the situation of transformation and conversion. To focus on the interaction with other viewers. Want to develop the viewer a real capacity for perception and action".

Le Parc conducted a lot of experiments with the depth, color, mobile sites and more and more inclined to perceptual art. His first solo exhibition was held in 1966 in new-Йорке at the gallery Howard Wise, following — in France, at the Galerie Denise René, in the same year when he received the first prize-при in painting at the Venice Biennale. In 1967, andré Malraux, Minister of culture of France, awarded him the title of Chevalier of the Order of arts and letters.

Expelled from France on the day following the events of may 1968, in which he took an active part (working in a poster workshop), Julio a few months later, returned to Paris due to the protests of the French artists and intellectuals. Operation G. R. A. V. is gradually eroding. Came into conflict with the art installations of the time, Le Parc refused to participate in Documenta and boycotted the Biennale in San-Паулу. Arranging his workshop in Cachan, a suburb of Paris, he in 1970, went to Central America to participate in the liberation struggle of Latin American peoples. In 1972, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf organized his first major retrospective, but from conduct of the second in the Paris Museum of Modern art, Julio refused, having played it in the "heads or tails"! He joined the Association of oppositionartists opposed the new national art Centre Georges Pompidou. Despite the fact that Julio Le Parc fell out of favor to numerous curators and leaders of cultural institutions, it has not ceased to work in the workshop. In 1989, he won first prize at the Biennale of American art in Cuenca (Ecuador) and half of the resulting amount donated to the Nicaraguan people, and the other half gave Biennale in Cuenca in the establishment of two new awards for young Latin American artists.

next time Le Parc appeared on the international stage in 2005, thanks to the Daros Foundation in Zurich, bringing together 45 of his works under the title "Le Parc Lumière" (note. wordplay — "light Park" / "Park light"). In 2012, the master participated in a group exhibition at the centre Pompidou in Metz "Wander: variations on a theme of labyrinth". In 2013, Jean de Loisy who opened the Tokyo Palace (Palais de Tokyo) after 10-летнего break, took Le Park of 2 000 m2 instead of the originally envisaged 500 m2. Followed by universal recognition, with enthusiastic press and a huge success.

In 2014, Le Parc was awarded the Legion of honor, and then he had his first solo exhibition in the UK at London's Serpentine Gallery. In 2015 he was named "outstanding figure in Argentine culture." In the same year, after a fruitful collaboration with such artists as Josef Albers, Daniel Buren, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, on the initiative of Pierre-Алексиса Dumas company Hermès has produced 60 unique variations of their iconic scarves inspired by the work of Le Park "Great hike".

• Julio LE Parc Blue sphere
  © Gallery Mitterrand

Creativity

Julio Le Parc — Creator of interactive social skills. His works something more than the play of light, shapes and colors. His paintings, sculptures and moving installations are intended, as says the artist, "to provoke the viewer with a different behavior <...> to work with the public to find ways of combating passivity, dependency or ideological conditioning, to develop the capacity for reflection, comparison, analysis, creativity, action".

Le Parc is seeking specific reactions: when faced with his work, the viewer must lose support, and then look around to find a new perspective. His "light play", for instance, not produce the visual impression — they're testing our reactions to the world. And the light is not just an ordinary guide; he helps Le Park in creating work that is constantly changing. As a result — endless and unpredictable play of light and shadow. For the visitor this is an exciting aesthetic experience. And for the artist we are talking about "the destruction of the classical concepts of art, design, ideas about it, its evaluation".

For nearly 60 years, this frenetic workaholic has reached in his work of great diversity: texts, performances, games, inventions, events, initiatives, posters, drawings, research and visual and tactile practices continuously coexist. His personal activities are closely linked to the collective, and red thread through it is a revision of the idea of hierarchy, audience passivity, the ratio of powerthe artist and the official art.

His works are represented in many museums and collections around the world, like in Latin America, and in Europe and the United States.

• Julio LE Parc Red sphere
  © Gallery Mitterrand

Kinetic and optical art

To kinetic art (kinetic art) include works that are entirely or partially in motion, as for natural (wind, gravity, etc.) and artificial reason (engine, viewer, etc.). The first experiments were carried out in 1910-е years, in the era of futurism, and later in some of his works used them Marcel Duchamp. Then Alexander Calder created his famous "mobiles": it was the air of a sculpture composed of wire and metal parts of different shapes that is driven by natural air flows.

the Concept of optical art, or op-арта, describes the artistic experiments that use the errors of visual perception creating optical illusions or optical games. In this case the physical movement is not happening, and only our brain perceives it. The illusion can be created in different ways: the manipulation of geometric patterns, the juxtaposition of black and white lines or bright flowers.

Works op-арта mostly abstract. This art dates back to theories of visual perception Kandinsky and other artists of the 1920-х years, such as Josef Albers and representatives of the Bauhaus. International recognition of optical art in 1965, during the exhibition at the Museum of modern art in new-Йорке, entitled "The responsive eye" ("sensitive eyes"). The most characteristic representatives of this trend — Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), founders of G. R. A. V. — group for the study of visual art (Garcia Rossi, Julio Le Parc, françois Morella, Francisco Sobrino, the son of Vasarely Jean-Пьер Yvaral), Bridget Riley. In 1960-е years, especially in major exhibitions that have marked this decade, optical art is enjoyed undeniable success as cultural institutions and critics and the General public. His popularity was facilitated by the fact that the visual techniques of these artists were inspired by fashion and graphic design. Recently, this art was reopened and gradually it takes its rightful place in history.

Artists op-арта peculiar fondness for large-scale forms: contact close with constructive art, they were interested in the possibility of the integration of their works in architecture.

the most significant artists of op-арта are: Victor Vasarely, Yaakov Agam, jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Диес, Karl Gerstner, Antonio ASIS, Joel Walls, Frank Malina, in Monterrey, Garcia-Rossi, Hugo DeMarco, Francisco Sobrino, Ludwig Wilding, Mariano Carrera, angel Duarte, Martha Boto, Nino calos and, of course, Julio Le Parc.

• Julio LE Parc's Continuous Mobility. 1963
  Stainless steel. 360 × 850 × 20
  Exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2013
  Photo: Andre Morin

At BRAFA

In honor of Julio Le Parc — special guest BRAFA 2017 — in the key areas of the fair will be set four of his works. At the main entrance appear large"Continuous Mobility" (1963); the center of the fair will be decorated with acrylic on canvas "Surface — color" (1970);, and finally, the patio, located at the extreme points of the lanes, put up two "Spheres" with a diameter of 2.1 m — red and blue. These pieces will fit perfectly into the overall design of the trade fair, the theme of which will be kinetic art.

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Source: press Materials BRAFA