6th Dec 2019 - Bilbao Guggenheim - Jesus Raphael Soto
Traveling to the Basque region of Spain can reveal a country of intriguing history, landscape and culture. The Bilbao Guggenheim currently exhibiting the work of Venezuelan artist Jesus Raphael Soto (1923-2005) titled ‘The Fourth Dimension’, curated by Manuel Cirauqui, was a surprising and wonderful opportunity to get to know the subtle and profound work and philosophy of Soto.
‘In the 1950’s Soto rejected representing the physical world, eliminating all subjectivity – any reference to the personal or individual. He did this by using simple forms such as a point, line, square creating repetitions, sequences and variations. He was fascinated with de-materializing the form and activate the optical vibration of the piece. A subtle shift of the viewers gaze sets his work in motion. By doing this Soto, made the spectator an essential part of his creative vision, making them part of the artwork.’
“A piece of wire disintegrates in front of a moiré background, its form is de-materialized, it undergoes a transformation a metamorphosis. You can’t tell where the wire ends or where it begins”
Untitled, 1962
Adding other materials that emphasized the volume of his works. The painted iron doesn’t just support the structure, it is also the material from which the geometric shapes are made. The slanting lines on the background has the potential to trigger vibrations.
“I was attempting to destroy matter in an attempt to transform it into energy. I wanted to prove that matter could be transformed into energy. Not energy in the scientific sense but, as I can see it – a state of sensibility.”
Black Wall Writing, 1977
His ‘Informal works’, also known as the ‘Baroque Period’, combined curves and fractures, generating instability. Venezuelan art critic and historian, Alfredo Boltane liken them to the work of the old Baroque masters.
“I do not have the necessary training to understand fully the modern scientific idea of the universe. But after much careful thought, after asking scientists to come down to my level and explain certain things I’ve been very impressed with the idea of unity of space, time and matter and their indivisibility. Concepts such as matter when vibration slows down can lead to the idea that vibration is at the origin of form. And this can be translated into plastic language, in order to build a world of pure vibration, just as the Impressionists studied pure light. We must interpret the values, thanks to science, completely change our idea of the universe, and we must propose them in our turn through art.”
Pure Vibration - 1968
“We observe the existence of relationships in every lucid moment of our behaviour, we wonder the laws of chance without realising that we are merely becoming aware of realities we had not previously thought about. Elements plunge into the work like a fish into water. All these directions, speeds, accidents and positions are ordered according to an all-encompassing whole upon which they depend, and which determines their variations. Their force is measured by the number of their manifestations.”