Page 12 - Studio International - January 1966

J-R. Soto: creating 'imaginary space'

by Jean Clay

For 15 years an artist works on imperturbably, devoting
his whole being to the high dignity of his art, and
achieves—developing through a process of silent self-
criticism—genuine stature with a body of work whose
contemporary relevance and coherence are second to
none in our age.
The Signals Gallery exhibition in London (Oct.-Dec.)
was necessary to reveal the full measure of this coher-
ence and do justice to the restrained art of a master
who might otherwise have passed unnoticed for a
long time among the tom-toms of tachist derision and
the Parisian antics of the 'new figurative' movement.
Three whole floors ; this much space was needed to
reflect a rigorous development which, starting out from
the works of Mondrian, resulted some years later in the
'kinetic vibrations' which the artist creates today, the
influence of which is felt more and more strongly by the
young generations which throughout Europe devote
themselves to the art of 'movement.'
For Soto everything began in 1950 when he arrived
in Paris. ('Paris,' he said, 'was synonymous with a
search for new forms, it resounded with the still
mysterious name of Mondrian . . . My attention was
drawn favourably to Mondrian, because the forms
which he created were truly abstract. He stood alone.
With Dewasne and Vasarely the forms were a manifest
reflection of reality ...') The problem facing him at this
The Venezuelan artist J-R. Soto with two time was how to break the bonds of form, to destroy
low-reliefs of 1951 using the repetition
principle. These are key works in the the density of matter, to reduce those rigid, motionless
development of his later Vibrations surfaces which Mondrian expressed with such-definitive
conviction in his classic compositions.
To begin with Soto used the principle of the series
Movements in Opposition
White and Black 1965 (excellent examples were on show at the Signals
Painted metal relief on wood Gallery). By repeating the same element again and
26 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.
Collection: Mrs. J-R. Soto, Paris again he reduces its importance and approaches a
relative concept of form. Fundamentally his search is
turning towards optical art. A concrete step forward is
reached with his 'superimpositions'. A regular grid of
small dots, all identical, applied to a surface of plastic
material, is set at a varying angle over a second grid
which also contains a large number of dots. The density
of concentration of dots—i.e. of mass—varies at
different points in the work. Form tends to be broken
up until, in 1954, with 'white dots against black dots'
Soto creates his first kinetic composition*. This time
his transparent grid covered with white dots in a
regular pattern is not fixed directly to the backing panel,
but instead some 8 cms. in front of it. The effect of
vibration is now obtained by movement of the spectator.

* 'Kinetic' : the word was used by Gabo in 1920 in his Manifesto
of Realism, and also by Moholy-Nagy ('Vision in Motion' 1947).
To both artists it signifies the same thing : the integration of real
movement, i.e. involving time, with the plastic arts. Time is
entrapped within the kinetic work of art—either because the com-
position itself moves, or because the spectator must move to grasp
its significance. The work represents a fundamental process of
transformation and cannot be understood without the concept of
duration. Space takes on an element of time, while time becomes
inextricably linked with space. One must not confuse—as too
many critics still do—kinetics with optical art, which is based on
the deliberate juxtaposition of contradictory colours (red and
green, for example) which the eye cannot absorb simultaneously
and therefore immediately set up a 'vibration' on the retina. It is
precisely because the two colours are presented simultaneously
that the optical effect is produced and the surface of the canvas
is disintegrated. Here time is not involved. The work is accepted
in its totality the moment the eye sees it.