JESÚS RAFAEL SOTO | Gran vibración azul y negra

Galería de Arte Ascaso, Valencia
Private Collection, Miami (acquired from the above)

Caracas, Galería de Arte Ascaso, Soto Dos Mil, November 1999 - January 2000

The panel is in good condition and appears structurally sound. The four black and white pinstriped panels exhibit tiny horizontal fissures in the paint layer caused by dimensional movement in the wood. Several of the seams on the four panels show minor cracking from movement. Nails used in the construction of the panel have pushed upward above the pinstriped panel disrupting the paint layer. No significant paint loss has occurred as a result of this. This movement of the nails is often seen in the artist's work. A 3/4" white drip was noted on the bottom of the second panel from the left. The horizontal bars which are fixed to four vertical bars that are attached to aluminum bars fastened to the top of the panel are in good condition and all accounted for. The bars while fixed in position flop, bend and undulate in an erratic manner that is characteristic of the artist's work. The black panel below the pinstripe panels shows minor wear. There is an exposed corner on the bottom left corner and a 1/2" dent and a 1/4" loss on the right side. Minor scuffs to the paint are evident on the bottom edge of the black panel. (This condition report has been prepared courtesy of Wilson Conservation, LLC)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"It might be said that all of Western painting has been nothing but an attempt to deceive the eye to succeed, by a series of tricks, in making a flat surface seem deep, to make what is static simulate movement and make the opaque seem luminous and transparent. The old Mannerist painters took pleasure in the ingenious game of simulating door or cupolas that did not exist, in order to deceive the spectator. In a certain sense all painting, from the Renaissance to Cubism, has been nothing but a refined form of this trompe-l'oil. It was necessary to create an autonomous object which would not deceive and which would simulate neither light nor movement nor space, but invade it or really create it.  This was the task of the kinetic artists, and within that undertaking the Venezuelan Jesus Soto is one of those who has contributed most toward creating that new dimension of spaces, forms, and forces."

Arturo Uslar Pietri in Alfredo Boulton, Soto, Caracas 1973, p. 210 

Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto developed an original kinetic vocabulary with origins in serialization which in turn, resulted in optical vibrations that modify both space and the viewer’s perception—a defining characteristic of Latin American abstraction.   

 

Throughout a career that extended over five decades, Soto experimented with chromatic planes and the transformable qualities of color, exploring the relationships between parallel lines and the figure and between background and foreground, in order to generate movement in paintings, three-dimensional constructions, and reliefs.

 

From the beginning, Soto’s Vibraciones were understood as paintings in which he integrated movement into the two-dimensional surface through a structural superimposition of lines, suspended elements, and geometric figures that generated optical vibrations as the viewer moved. The present work, Gran vibración azul y negra is an outstanding large scale example of this widely admired and lasting series.