Description of artwork: Physichromie No. 500, by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, was first exhibited at the 35th Venice Biennale held in 1970. Part of his Physichromies series that began in 1959, this artwork engages the viewer by transforming color into an immersive experience, and exemplifies the artists exploration of color and perception.
In the artist’s words: “I have always talked about realities, not to imitate them but to provoke them. The Physichromies are something I invented so that I might express myself with the joy of a painter in action, of painting in the process of being created, stripped of traditional concepts and techniques. In traditional painting, the artist’s work instantly becomes part of the past, and what the viewer contemplates and deciphers is an action that exists in the past. The color that reaches the viewer’s gaze “was painted,” is frozen in time. The Physichromies, on the other hand, force us to deal with an event of color in the process of occurring in the moment, without past or future. But I am definitely a painter. You could say that a Physichromie contains painting in its purest form. All the effects and pleasures of painting are there: the harmonies, the glazing, the transparencies, even though it has nothing to do with the painting of the past.” (Source: Carlos Cruz-Diez in Conversation with Ariel Jiménez, published by the Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in 2010)
In their contribution to the catalogue for the exhibition The Geometry of Hope in 2007, art historian Alberto McKelligan states:
“Cruz-Diez realized that he could not simply consider color a secondary element within his artistic production. Instead, he explored colors, and the optical effects they could produce on viewers, as a way of encouraging his audiences to engage with his art objects. For example, many of the works in his Physichromies series feature a large number of semitransparent strips attached perpendicularly onto a support, the artist having chosen the specific colors and angles of these elements. With the finished artwork hanging on a wall, the viewer can experience the work’s continuous transformation: as the viewer moves from side to side in front of it, the work seems to shift in shape and color, producing the sensation of an artwork that is never quite finished but rather is completed each time a viewer chooses to engage with it.”
Installation shots: Installation view of an exhibition of works by Carlos Cruz-Diez at the 35th Venice Biennale, 1970.Installation view of the exhibition La invención concreta: Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (January 22–September 16, 2013).Installation view of the exhibition Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection at the Royal Academy of Arts (July 5–September 28, 2014).Installation view of the exhibition Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection at the Royal Academy of Arts (July 5–September 28, 2014).
Artist:
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Title:
Physichromie No. 500
Date:
1970
Materials:
Casein on PVC and acrylic strips on plywood
Dimensions:
183 x 484 x 8 cm (72 x 190 1/2 x 3 1/8 inches)
Artist:
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Title:
Physichromie No. 500
Date:
1970
Materials:
Casein on PVC and acrylic strips on plywood
Dimensions:
183 x 484 x 8 cm (72 x 190 1/2 x 3 1/8 inches)
Description of artwork: Physichromie No. 500, by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, was first exhibited at the 35th Venice Biennale held in 1970. Part of his Physichromies series that began in 1959, this artwork engages the viewer by transforming color into an immersive experience, and exemplifies the artists exploration of color and perception.
In the artist’s words: “I have always talked about realities, not to imitate them but to provoke them. The Physichromies are something I invented so that I might express myself with the joy of a painter in action, of painting in the process of being created, stripped of traditional concepts and techniques. In traditional painting, the artist’s work instantly becomes part of the past, and what the viewer contemplates and deciphers is an action that exists in the past. The color that reaches the viewer’s gaze “was painted,” is frozen in time. The Physichromies, on the other hand, force us to deal with an event of color in the process of occurring in the moment, without past or future. But I am definitely a painter. You could say that a Physichromie contains painting in its purest form. All the effects and pleasures of painting are there: the harmonies, the glazing, the transparencies, even though it has nothing to do with the painting of the past.” (Source: Carlos Cruz-Diez in Conversation with Ariel Jiménez, published by the Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in 2010)
In their contribution to the catalogue for the exhibition The Geometry of Hope in 2007, art historian Alberto McKelligan states:
“Cruz-Diez realized that he could not simply consider color a secondary element within his artistic production. Instead, he explored colors, and the optical effects they could produce on viewers, as a way of encouraging his audiences to engage with his art objects. For example, many of the works in his Physichromies series feature a large number of semitransparent strips attached perpendicularly onto a support, the artist having chosen the specific colors and angles of these elements. With the finished artwork hanging on a wall, the viewer can experience the work’s continuous transformation: as the viewer moves from side to side in front of it, the work seems to shift in shape and color, producing the sensation of an artwork that is never quite finished but rather is completed each time a viewer chooses to engage with it.”
Installation shots: Installation view of an exhibition of works by Carlos Cruz-Diez at the 35th Venice Biennale, 1970.Installation view of the exhibition La invención concreta: Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (January 22–September 16, 2013).Installation view of the exhibition Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection at the Royal Academy of Arts (July 5–September 28, 2014).Installation view of the exhibition Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection at the Royal Academy of Arts (July 5–September 28, 2014).
