Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Miami Art Museum Presents Carlos Cruz Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color

Carlos Cruz Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color explores the artist’s pioneering contribution to the experimental practices that emerged in the decades of the Sixties and Seventies that proposed the dematerialization of the object to create participatory environment that involved the body, senses and subjectivity of the spectator, turning the viewer into a participant in the art work. Open March 20 – June 20, 2010.

The exhibition will feature Cromosaturación (Chromosaturation), a site-specific environment designed by the artist that focuses on the relationship between color and perception. Initially conceived in 1965 and presented for the first time in 1968 in the Ostwald Museum in Dortmund, Germany, this work consists of three separate color chambers infused with red, green and blue light. The real content of this work is the visitor’s experience of walking through the shifting chromatic space and interacting over time through his physical movement.

In addition, the exhibition will also include three other participatory works, Duchas de inducción cromática (Showers of Chromatic Induction) 1968, one of the artist’s first experiments with the idea of color in space, where color is experienced via a series of booths in the shape of showers made with strips of transparent colored plastic; Ambiente cromointerferente (Chromo-interferent Environment), 1974, a changing, three-dimensional chromatic projection environment activated by the physical movement of the spectator/participant; and Experiencia cromática aleatoria interactiva (Aleatory Interactive Chromatic Experience), 1995, an interactive computer installation that allows the spectator to create his own visual interpretation of Cruz Diez’ work.

Although Cruz Diez’ oeuvre is well known throughout Europe and Latin America, it is not as well recognized in the United States. The exhibition seeks to increase the understanding and appreciation of his work in this country. In his experimentation with color and perceptual structures, Cruz Diez proposed new definitions for the art work as a habitable environment and a field of active participation through the use of light, movement and space. The exhibition will be an occasion not only for the audience to get to know the work of one of Venezuela’s most celebrated artists and it will also provide an opportunity for challenging public discussions about interactive and participatory art.

Carlos Cruz-Diez (Caracas, Venezuela 1923)
Cruz-Diez was born in Venezuela in 1923. He has lived and worked in Paris since 1960. His artistic experimentations have expanded notions about color. He has created several major series of works that explore the optical effects of color among them Fisicromías (Physichromies), Transcromías (Transchromies),Inducciones Cromáticas (Chromatic Inductions) and Cromosaturaciones (Chromosaturations). His work is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Tate Modern, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among other institutions. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as Tour Eiffel haute en Couleurs, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2003); Inverted Utopias: Avant Garde Art in Latin America, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2004); Lo(s) Cinético(s), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2007). Among his solo exhibitions are Retrospectiva, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas (1981); Carlos Cruz Diez, Autonomie der Farbe, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop (1988); In(formed) by Color: Carlos Cruz Diez, Americas Society, Nueva York (2008); El color sucede, Museu d’Art Espanyol Contemporani, Palma de Mallorca (2009).

Carlos Cruz-Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color is supported by SaludArte Foundation, Fundación Bancoro, Davos Financial Group and Fundación Mercantil. It is organized by Miami Art Museum and curated by MAM Adjunct Curator Rina Carvajal.

Exhibition Lecture: “Carlos Cruz Diez: New Mythology”
With Gabriela Rangel, Americas Society director of visual arts
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3pm
MAM members $5, non-members $10 (Includes museum admission)

www.miamiartmuseum.org

Image: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Cromosaturacion, 1965-2008. Tres cubiculos de color (luz florencente, azul, roja y verde) Dimensiones Variables. Courtesy of Americas Society, New York. Photo by: Arturo Sanchez. Carlos Cruz Diez