Julio Le Parc (Argentine, born 1928). Instabile-continuel lumière, ca. 1962. Metal, wire and wood, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches (80 x 80 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1963 (K1963:18). © Julio Le Parc / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
During the 1950s, Julio Le Parc became intrigued by the participatory possibilities of Op and Kinetic art, two movements that were in their formative years. In 1959, Le Parc relocated from Argentina to France. There he helped found the Paris-based collaborative Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) in 1961. The group brought together eleven Op and Kinetic artists, including Francesco Sobrino and Jean-Pierre Yvaral, whose work is also in the Albright-Knox's collection. Le Parc found his niche in employing light and movement to produce vibrant results that depend on viewer interaction. Unstable-continual Light is composed of highly polished metal paillettes hung on nylon thread in front of a black backdrop. The slightest air disturbance causes a significant degree of interplay among these elements, which also reflect their surroundings to create a brilliantly random play of light and shadow.
Label from Giant Steps: Artists and the 1960s, June 30–December 30, 2018
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Movement, Optical Phenomena and Light: Kinetic and Optic Painting and Sculpture in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery Collection
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