Coming back to Paris is always exciting and there were two exhibitions I was looking forward to. Two different exhibitions on Op art works. I saw them close together but will need a couple of days to digest the second one. They were both extraordinary events.
I think that I «met» Julio Le Parc for the first time in 2008 at the ART ELYSEES- Foire d'art moderne et contemporain- Galerie Lelia Mordoch- in Paris and of course the permanent collection in the Modern Art Museum. There were two exhibitions that year on cinetic art or perhaps Op art, also known as optical art, which is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.
"Optical art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing."
Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.
But of course this tells you nothing about Julio Le Parc. He is a modern Argentine kinetic artist born in 1928 and active mainly in Argentina. I think he lives in Paris today and is still working. I had a soft spot for him at once as one of my dearest friends is also from Argentinia.
There had been a very good write up about him in one of my Art Magazines and before leaving for the States, I noted that the Palais of Tokyo should be a first port of call when back in Paris. How lucky I was the Jérome wanted to go too.
There hasn’t been such a large retrospective of his works since the 1980’s. This is immersive art and the visitor discovers new ways of interacting with the world through the study of light and movement. There were paintings, sculptures and monumental installations, but can you believe it, they were fantastic. For the better part, the op art is in black and white. A little colour and it was the colour that brought my attention to his work in 2008, or perhaps it was earlier. It is not unlike the approach one has to have to Marc Rothko’s paintings. You have to walk around the optical art to discover different facets and different shapes. Walking INTO it is quite something as those installations are like miror labyrinths and sometimes there are noises which are not always reassuring.
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| the entry hall |
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| the hall of mirors |
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| but not the same as below |
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| a wall of mirors |
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| the entry wall |
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| in movement too |
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| the first side - a little like Rothko |
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| the wall moving |
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| turn and discover |
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| the roomd of mirors |
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| another wall of movement |
The most extraordinary work and probaby the «pièce de résistance» was an immesne globe. It was impossible to tell how it worked at first then Jerome found that there was a hidden CD which projected lines which intermingled, larger, smallers, crossing and zig-zagging over the giant sphere. Mesmerizing. Most of the installations were just that. The eye was hypnotized by moving black and white lights, lines, cubes.....
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| The sphere |
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| turning |
The game’s room also was most original and this attracted us like children. I think they were boxing units and a wonderful paper streamers in the wind. Jerome tried other more perilous games.....
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| Punching balls |
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| Punching balls |
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| Silent wind machine |
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| First movement |
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| Second movement |
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| and last...I could have played for longer |
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| Apparently you had to have good balance - I don't |
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| who is this? |
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| And ? |
Although the colours are eye catching and in fact very striking, I still feel that the black and silvery white are more effective for this work. I'll see if this is the same when I go to Dynamo at the Grand Palais.
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| A huge red globe |
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| This is actually a painting |
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| The Long walk |
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| These I knew..... |
I recognized some of his earlier work but I think at 85, some of the work he completed in 2013 beats all the originality I have seen recently in younger artist’s work.
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