Julio Le Parc

JULIO LE PARC (Mendoza, Argentina, 1928).
Untitled. Ondas Series, 1971–1972.
14-color silkscreen print on cardstock (x10). Complete series.
Prints: 71/100, 4/100, 31/100, 86/100, 63/100, 90/100, 98/100, 79/100, 93/100, and 80/100.
Accompanied by a certificate issued by the Fondazione di Paolo.
Publisher: La Nuevo Foglio-Pollenza di Macerata.
Signed and certified.
Measurements: 34 x 25 cm (x10).
Julio Le Parc’s “Ondas” series is part of his research on visual perception, color, and apparent movement, particularly from the late 1960s through the 1970s. It is closely related to his Surface Couleur (Color Surface) series and his Modulaciones works. These works do not depict waves or nature literally. The “waves” are visual phenomena created through the repetition and systematic variation of shapes and colors. The viewer becomes a fundamental part of the experience: as they move in front of the work, the chromatic vibrations and changes in rhythm generate a sensation of movement, depth, and constant transformation. True to the principles of kinetic art, Le Parc avoids spontaneous gestures and works with rigorous, almost mathematical structures.
A multidisciplinary artist within the field of kinetic art, Julio Le Parc trained at the Prilidiano Peuyrredón School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, and in 1957 he began working within the abstract tradition. The following year, he moved to Paris on a French government scholarship, where he founded the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel and joined the Nouvelle Tendance group. In 1966, he held his first solo exhibition at the Sage Gallery in Howard (New York), and that same year he won first prize at the Venice Biennale. In 1967, he participated in a major group exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and in 1972, the first retrospective of his work was held in Düsseldorf. His work is currently represented in the Tate Gallery in London, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Proa Foundation in Buenos Aires, the Luis Ángel Arango Library in Colombia, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., among other public and private collections.