Biography from Rogallery.com:
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 Energy is one of the most striking elements of work by Jesus Soto, and his experiments with optical effects are representative of some of the most successful of the Op Art-Kinetic Art movements. Soto's work, however, surpasses the mere exploitation of optical effects, and he intends in his paintings a concentration of energy, which attains a point where the paintings become a mirage, kinesthetically like a mental tension.
Soto's use of the moire effect plays a prominent role in his early works of transition from the tradition of hard-edge abstraction founded by Modrian to the more fluid expression he presently uses. The influence of Modrian's balancing of lines and composition can be found in Soto's work, with Soto's added touch of a personal search for an art which would be its own master, wholly independent of the natural world, an attitude reflective of Modrian's.
Soto's work with identical and multipliable elements was aimed at reducing the sign to total anonymity, in the effort to get away from subjective art. When the transition to kinetic art came Soto's way in 1955 he began to make plexiglass superimpositions. Spirals traced upon perspex were superimposed in depth. The optical effect that resulted was in the relationship between the surfaces. Soto's painting began to emerge and assume a sculptural dimension when he suspended wire and rods of metal in front of the background. This striping of the background seems to create the effect of attacking and partly absorbing the forms which are placed in front of it. Soto's work established a concrete relationship with the viewers perception as disconcerting and fascinating as a mirage.
In 1973, the Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art opened in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela with a collection of his work - a large number of the exhibits are wired to the electricity supply so that they can move. The Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva designed the building for the museum and the Italian op artist Getulio Alviani was called to direct it.
Some of Soto's work adorns the ceiling of the main hall of Caracas' arts centre, the Teatro Teresa Carreño.
Jesús Rafael Soto died in 2005 in Paris, and he is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse.
ONE-MAN SHOWS
1949
Taller Libre de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
1956
Galerie Denise Rene, Paris
1957
Galerie Aujourd'hui, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1957
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
1959
Galerie Iris Clert, Paris
1961
Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Essen
1961
Galerie Brusberg, Hanover, Germany
1961
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
1962
Galerie Ad Libitum, Amberes, France
1962
Galerie Edouard Loeb, Paris
1963
Haus Lange Museum, Krefeld, Germany
1964
Galerie Muller, Stuttgart, Germany
1965
Kootz Gallery, New York
1965
Galerie Edouard Loeb, Paris
1965
Signals, London
1966
Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf, Germany
1966
Galleria del Navigho, Milan
1966
Kootz Gallery, New York
1966
Galleria del Deposito, Genoa, Italy
1966
Centre de l'Art Vivant, Trieste, Italy
1966
Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, Germany
1966
Galeria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy
1967
Galerie Denise Rene, Paris
1968
Galerie Francoise Mayer, Brussels, Belgium
1968
Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland
1968
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
1968
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1968
Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome
1968
Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf
1969
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1969
Galleria Lorenzelli, Bergamo
1969
Galleria Notizie, Turin
1969
Galleria del Navigho, Milan
1969
Galleria Flori, Florence
1969
Galleria Giraldi, Livorno
1969
Estudio Actual, Caracas, Venezuela
1969
Musee d'Art Moderne de Ia VIIIE de Paris
1969
Svensk-Franska Kunstgalleriet, Stockholm, Sweden
1969
Marlborough Gerson Gallery, New York
1970
Galerie Suvremene Umietnosti Zagreb, Yugoslavia
1970
Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany
1970
Museum of Ulm, Germany
1970
Galerie Denise Rene, Paris
1970
Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
1970
Galerie Godart Leffort, Montreal
1970
Galerie Semiha Huber, Zurich
1970
Galerie Buchholz, Munich, Germany
1971
Museum of Modern Art, Chicago
1971
Kunstverein, Kaiserslautern, Germany
1971
Galerie Denise Rene, Dusseldorf, Germany
1971
Galerie Denise Rene, Dusseldorf, Germany
1971
Galleria Rotta, Milan
1971
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
1971
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
1972
Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland
1972
Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne, Switzerland
1972
Galleria Levi, Milan
1972
Estudlo Actual, Caracas, Venezuela
1972 Formes dt Muraux, Lyon, France
1973
Galleria Corsini, Rome
1973
Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas
1973
Galeria Arte/Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela
1973
Estudio Dos, Valencia, Venezuela
1973
Galeria Godel, Rome
1974
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1974
Galeria Arte/Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela
1974
Galeria Denise Rene, New York
1975
Joseph Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
1975
Galeria Arte/Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela
MUSEUM AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Moderna Musset, Stockholm, Sweden
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Tate Gallery, London
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Fundacion Kaiser, Cordoba, Argentina
Riikmuseum Kroller. Colo Norway |
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