CHROME IS COLOR
I wrote this essay for Dr. Koontz’s Latin American Art class in 2013. I’m publishing it now because Carlos Cruz-Diez passed away one year ago and I’m sad. He made art.
Crosswalks
Throughout his career, Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez "invented a new process of Latin American forms of expression" (Bayon). He began his artistic practice in France in the 1950s, opposing the conventional standards of "figurative art" and dedicating his work to the "optic studies of color." He and his Latin American colleagues participated in the kinetic art movement, establishing themselves as futuristic thinkers. These artists emphasized that one's heritage was less significant to one's career than one's expression (Barnitz 189). Latin America was receptive to the resurrected ideas of geometric, optical, and kinetic art from Europe, which spread geographically across Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela. Venezuela embraced optical art as a way to celebrate the rising modern technology world. The country had been part of a military government and had yet to see any avant-garde development, making this movement the first to break away from academic and representational art (Barnitz 200). Cruz-Diez was interested in the visual experience and experimented with space, light, color, and form by incorporating urban space and viewer perception.
Double Physichromie, University of Houston
Cruz-Diez’s 2011 exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Color in Space and Time, combined and divided several different color sequences in various forms of media. The goal of this exhibition was to form a unique experience with the viewer and separate it from our original three-dimensional physical plane, thus creating Color in Space and Time. It showcased kinetic sculptures and artworks using color theory optics, engineering, and craft (Cruz-Diez). The viewer created a spectrum of color by shifting their viewpoints with light (Cruz-Diez 21). One of the exhibition's signature pieces was the distinctly painted crosswalks on Bissonnet and Montrose Blvd., which were difficult to miss. This series, titled Crosswalks, was the first of its kind in the U.S. and drew on color theories that Cruz-Diez had explored throughout his career. Although the paint has since deteriorated due to cars, pedestrians, and natural weather, the five street crosswalks, each with three distinctive color palettes, were designed to create an interactive relationship between the viewer, the space between the paint, and the time taken to acknowledge and observe it.
These five crosswalks connect the MFAH’s central campus (2013). The combinations consist of blue-green on Bissonnet, green-orange on Montrose Blvd., and blue-orange reflecting the green-orange at the intersection of Bissonnet and Montrose Blvd. When viewed from above, these crosswalks might be mistaken for zebra stripes without further evaluation. The eyes are drawn to the color and the familiar optical illusion characteristic of Cruz-Diez’s kinetic art. Each crosswalk features a black diagonal line running across the red, green, or blue vertical lines, creating the illusion of static vertical lines shifting to horizontal ones cut by the diagonal line, adding depth to the paint. The viewer interprets these with vivid curiosity, which was the artist’s primary goal. Crosswalks incorporate kinetic and optic art through space, vision, and movement (by walking).
His work follows a chronological sequence, produced and displayed for viewers to make decisive movements at different times and under different light conditions (Cruz-Diez 72). Crosswalks finds meaning in the interaction between the viewer, the space, and the time taken to observe it. Unlike artworks hanging in galleries, the viewer interacts with Cruz-Diez’s work, constructing their analysis. In an interview with Adriana Bianco, Cruz-Diez states, "What is left after a concert? Nothing, or just the memory. It's an ephemeral art. What is left after an exhibition? The memories, the experiences." Viewers interpret artwork in their way, building memories of their first encounter with it. Understanding the history of the period, viewers engage with the idea that "kinetic art is one of the most significant movements in contemporary art, precisely due to the idea that the spectator should actively and physically be engaged with the work of art" (Cruz-Diez 72).
Physichromie 1, 1959. Caracas. 19 x 19 in. (50 x 50 cm.).
It is generally assumed that an artist represents their country through their work. However, Cruz-Diez feels that he represents "an idea" more than solely being Venezuelan. He states, "I haven't overtly made any folkloric gestures in my work. I don't know if my colors are 'Venezuelan,' it's certainly not my intention. People tend to think that if Matisse is French, then his art must be French. No" (Brodsky 71). Another artwork not represented in the Color in Space and Time exhibition is Double Physichromie (2009) at the University of Houston Main Campus. This piece draws attention to the Welcome Center and aims to engage the audience. It carries light throughout the day and night, creating different visual experiences for viewers at any time (Sicardi Gallery).
Cruz-Diez explains his inventions of color and the creation of fisicromías (Physichromie 1) in Jose Navarrete’s article. He states that his interest lies in "color not only as a material reality present in the painting, but also as a construction of perception affected by the eventual relationships that can be established between the colors applied on the pictorial surface, the variability in the action of light, and the movement of the viewer's gaze." Double Physichromie changes as one walks across it. Facing the Welcome Center and walking towards the right, the sculpture does not show the same effect, colors, or sequence as when viewed directly in front. When starting a new production, Cruz-Diez often reflects on the beginning of his career and how he can innovate his ideas through modern concepts. In Houston, he created the outdoor works Double Physichromie and Crosswalks. Both pieces have much in common but have unique focuses. Cruz-Diez creates a relationship with the viewer’s engagement through color and space, their relation to it, and the experience both give each other. Even at 90 years old, he sets himself as an explorer, finding different theories in the world as complex as color.
Works Cited
Barnitz, Jacqueline. "Geometric, Optical, and Kinetic Art from the 1950s through the 1970s." Twentieth-century Art of Latin America. Austin: University of Texas, 2001. 189-214. Print.
Bayón, Damián, “In Reply to a Question: ‘When Will the Art of Latin America Become Latin American Art?” Artes Visuales, Mexico City (Museo de Arte Moderno, Chapultepec),10 (April- June 1976), 18-22.
Bianco, Adriana. "Carlos Cruz-Díez." Americas 63.4 (2011): 42-51. World History Collection. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Brodsky, Estrellita B. "Carlos Cruz-Diez." Bomb 110 (2010): 64-71. Art Full Text (H.W.Wilson). Web. 16 Feb. 2013.
Cruz, Diez Carlos, and Osbel Suárez. Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color Happens. Madrid: Fundación Juan March, 2009. Print.
Cruz, Diez C, Mari C. Ramírez, and Héctor Olea. Color in Space and Time: Cruz Diez. Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Cruz-Diez Foundation, 2011. Print.
Jose Navarette - ArtNexus: https://www.artnexus.com/en/magazines/article-magazine-artnexus/5d63490390cc21cf7c0a21fe/74/carlos-cruz-diez
Sicardi Gallery, “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Physichromie Double - Sicardi Gallery." – CarlosCruz-Diez: Physichromie Double - Sicardi Gallery.
Sicardi Gallery, 2009. Web.22 Mar. 2013.
