Sin título (Untitled) (1990) by Jesús Rafael SotoInter-American Development Bank
Born in 1923, Jesús Rafael Soto was one of the most famed artists of the Kinetic art movement that swept through Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay in the mid-twentieth century.
As a pioneer of Kinetic art – a work of art that creates a physical or optical sense of movement – Soto explored perception through the manipulation of colour and new industrial materials such as nylon, metal, and plexiglass.
This print is a later work of his, made in 1990, when he was 67 years old and living in Paris. The Kinetic Art movement had peaked in the late 1960s, but Soto continued to explore abstraction and perception.
The simple block colors and large white gaps seem to draw the eyes around the artwork.
From point…
…to point…
…to point
But there's more to this artwork than visual experiments. The organised structure, combination of colors and stripes, and landscape format make the artwork reminiscent of television test cards.
Photograph, "Television test card for the Zweites Deutsche Fernsehen company (ZDF)" (c. 1955)Museum for Communication Frankfurt, Museum Foundation Post and Telecommunication
Like this example, used in Germany by the Zweites Deutsche Fernsehen company.
Sin título (Untitled) (1990) by Jesús Rafael SotoInter-American Development Bank
Around the time this artwork was made, video and home television was on the rise and many were wondering if, or when, this new digital technology would overtake analogue film. Perhaps Soto saw a similarity between his Kinetic Art and this new digital world.
This print could be simple abstract experiment, or inspired by technology, or perhaps there's something else to this work… the composition looks a little strange…
Most of the blocks are gathered in the lower half of the image, standing on top of the stripes, while the yellow block sits almost in the white upper half, bounded by a blue border. The whole image has the uncanny appearance of a crowd stood before the sun.
Thanks for taking a look at the work of Jesús Rafael Soto. While you're here, why not take a look at more of his work, and that of Kinetic Artists including Gyula Kosice and Alexander Calder.
