Soto, regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, worked primarily in Paris. He moved there in 1950 and found a highly dynamic artistic community which included artists like Tinguely, Vassarely and Calder. In this context, Soto began to veer away from the plane of painting and became wholly involved in exploring the treatment of three-dimensional space.
After “Black on White – White on Black” in 2012, the Galería Cayón exhibition “Virtual Soto” presents a selection of works that date from 1962 to 2002 whose common denominator is investigation into the space-movement binomial. Thus, the exhibition spotlights not only the evolution of Soto’s oeuvre but also the main topic of his inquiry.
The works that will be displayed at Blanca de Navarra 7 include subtle striped bars which when hung in front of planes add the presence – in the distance – of the previously coloured shape. With these bars painted with extraordinary precision, Soto achieves a wide range of optical effects, leading the viewer to perceive movement. However, this movement is illusory. In other words, it is virtual but never real, and only achieved thanks to the viewer’s interaction with the space.
The works of Jesús Rafael Soto can be found in the permanent collections of prominent international museums like the Tate Gallery in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Contemporary Art Museum in Seoul. The exhibition at Galería Cayón dovetails with the retrospective being held at the Musée Soulages de Rodez (France).
