A new exhibition of works by Marius Strugariu, who we featured on the site some time ago, opens on 14th March 2015 (8pm) at B32 Artspace, Bourgognestraat 32, 6221 BZ Maastricht, The Netherlands.
The exhibition is called AB ORIGINE. You can find out more information here. The exhibition runs from 14th March to 29th March and is open Thursdays and Fridays 1pm – 6pm and Saturdays and Sundays 2pm – 8pm.
“AB ORIGINE is a time/space introspection, where archaic symbols define contemporary issues. The observer is invited to reflect upon his Absolute Self, in the midst of a field of collective memories coming from the roots of existence.
In what the artist calls Mirrors, embodied in an installation of paintings, he depicts the pure Potential of our inner Self through reflections over ones self perceptions.
Its all about harmonic frequencies that fuse the mental states together with the Essence of the source of knowledge and information.
The artist invites us to step further into understanding the mechanisms of constraint and comprehend a field of absolute unconditional energy.”
The Art Institute of Chicago is currently hosting Bridget Riley’s first US solo exhibition at an American museum in 15 years.
Ascending and Descending Hero (1963-5 Bridget Riley)
The exhibition features one of the museum’s own pieces – Ascending and Descending Hero (1963-5) shown above – as well as several of Bridget Riley’s ‘stripe’ paintings. A key piece on display though is Riley’s only sculptural work – Continuum (1962) – which is on show for the first time ever in the US.
Bridget Riley – Continuum (1962 – Acrylic on Aluminium)
The exhibition can be found in Gallery 294 at the Institute and runs from Tuesday, November 11, 2014 through to Sunday, March 8, 2015. Entrance to the Museum is not free – pricing details can be found on their website.
A major Julio Le Parc exhibition is currently running at Malba – Fundación Costantini, Avda. Figueroa Alcorta, 3415 Buenos Aires, Argentina. The exhibition opened at the beginning of July and will run until October 6, 2014.
It features a selection of works by Le Parc (born Mendoza, Argentina in 1928) belonging to the Daros Latin America Collection, Zurich. The exhibition focuses primarily on Le Parc’s Kinetic experiments with light that he completed in the 1960s. There are 16 installations on display in 2 halls of the museum.
A large steel and enamel sculpture by famous Op and Kinetic Artist Carlos Cruz-Diez that was installed in the grounds of a school in La Roche-sur-Yon, France, has been taken to the local dump rather than repaired. The work – Colonne Chromointerférente – was first installed in 1972 and was scrapped this year.
Cruz-Diez and his work that the French decided to scrap rather than repair
The Vendee council decided that it made more sense to dump the artwork rather than repair it, despite it having a value estimated at around €200,000. The work had become rusty after more than 40 years in situ and the council decided that it was a danger to the public.
No announcement was made about the scrapping of the work but its disappearance was noticed by a blogger – William Chevillon – in June this year.
In a letter published by Ouest France, Cruz-Diez responded to the the situation. “For those who ordered the destruction of my Colonne Chromointerférente… art does not exist and makes no sense. If the situation had been any different, the work would have been maintained,” he wrote. He also expressed his disbelief that “such an incident could have taken place in a country that is considered cultured and a fervent defender of the arts.”
Francis Celentano is one of the original Op Art pioneers who was featured in the cutting edge exhibition that is credited with bringing the Op Art movement to the mainstream – the famous “Responsive Eye” exhibition held at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1965 – where his work was shown alongside work by Bridget Riley and other key artists of the movement.
Poniard Series
Francis Celentano
1965
acrylic on masonite
34 x 42Image from Elliptical Kinetic Painting III
Francis Celentano
1968
Serigraph print
20×28 framedAlpha Diamond IV
Francis Celentano
1969
acrylic on canvas
57 x 57 diagonal
Francis’s work has been collected by (amongst others) the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art, The Albright-Knox Gallery, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires and The Seattle Art Museum. He is currently represented by the Loretta Howard Gallery in New York and the Laura Russo Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
Red Alternates
Francis Celentano
1969
acrylic on canvas
35 x 48Red Alternates
Francis Celentano
1969
acrylic on canvas
35 x 48Alpha Reverse in Black and White
Francis Celentano
1970
acrylic on canvas
35 x 48
We are absolutely honoured to be able to feature Francis’s work on the site.
Did you study art? If so, where? I took elective courses in drawing and painting in Undergraduate school at New York University. My studies were predominantly in the history of art in graduate and undergraduate school at New York University. In the 1950’s in New York when I started painting I was encouraged by ideas I shared with contemporary artists as well as exhibitions of avant-garde art. A Fulbright gave me a year in Rome in 1957-58 which was also important in the direction my art took.
Diamorphus 10
Francis Celentano
1977
acrylic on plastic
58 x 8Iota 18a
Francis Celentano
1973
acrylic on plastic
60 x 8Exana #10
Francis Celentano
1993
Acrylic on Plastic
60×8
Why do you like Op Art? Because it’s a clearly calibrated means of visual expression. it exists solely on its own terms. The subject is purely perceptual without external references. Each work of art demands attention on every visual level of interaction in terms of itself alone.
How do you make your art? I use Photo Shop to design my paintings and then I scale up the design. I make adjustments, select the colors and transfer the design to canvas or a plastic surface. The piece begins with an idea. I may draw and/or work out solutions before I start working on it in PhotoShop.
Spira P Sycopated
Francis Celentano
1988
acrylic on plastic
67×10Serpa 4
Francis Celentano
2002
acrylic on plastic
60×10Spira R Syncopated
Francis Celentano
1968
acrylic on plastic
67×10
What’s the process for making one of your artworks? There have been many different series over the years. Each painting in a series is done in the same way. For example the recent Gemini series involved the overlapping of two identical patterns. By this means a new pattern with new shapes was generated. I used PhotoShop to design the pattern and manipulate the overlaps choosing those that I felt were exciting. The pattern is scaled up to fit the size of the canvas, printed out, traced onto the canvas and painted with selected acrylic colors.
Le Cirque 10
Francis Celentano
2004
acrylic on canvas
60 x 84Electra 5
Francis Celentano
1990
acrylic on canvas
45 x 60Le Cirque 2
Francis Celentano
2003
acrylic on canvas
44 x 62 inch
Final thoughts?. For me Op Art or Perceptual Art, intriguing for its ambiguities and tensions, seem to function as a metaphor for the distortions of experience and reason generously provided by nature and culture.
Six Radial Spin
Francis Celentano
2008
acrylic on canvas
48 diameterGemini 6
Francis Celentano
2011
acrylic on canvas
34 x 34 inch diagonalTriple Counter Rotation
Francis Celentano
2009
acrylic on plastic
46 inch diameter
You can see more of Francis’s work and read about his fascinating life and artistic career (spanning 5 decades) on his website.
A YouTube video here shows Francis’s Elliptical Kinetic Painting from 1967.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6JL-wMVz6c#t=12
“Lavendar Creed” from 1964 – Francis Celentano’s work that was featured in “The Responsive Eye”
