
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Double Physichromie: University of Houston, 2008. Metal, Paint, 59 1/16 x 601 9/16 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Induction Chromatique Double Fréquence, 2011-2012. Permanent installation coordinated through Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino for the Miami Marlins Ballpark Stadium, Miami, FL. 1,672 m2
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Spacial Chromointerference, 2018, Buffalo Bayou Cistern. Photo courtesy Paul Hester.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Environnement Chromointerferent, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2011
Carlos Cruz-Diez Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2007
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Autonomía del Color Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2017
Carlos Cruz-Diez Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2012. © Laura Burlton Photography.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie 216, 1966, Cardboard and aluminum modules with wood strip frame, 12 1/4 x 28 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie No 472, 1969. Cardboard (Celloderme), casein (Plaka), cellulose acetate (Rhodoid) inserts mounted on plywood with wood frame, 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie 888, 1974. Aluminum, silkscreen, and stainless steel, 35 x 35 x 2 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie Panam 94, 2011. Chromography, aluminum, 58 5/8 x 314 15/16 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie 1772, 2012. Chromography on aluminum, PVC inserts, 39 11/32 x 39 11/32 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie Panam 218, 2015. Chromography on aluminum modules with PVC inserts and aluminum strip frame, 78 11/16 x 157 7/16 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie Panam 53, 2010. Chromography on aluminum, 39 3/8 x 118 1/8 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez: A Chromatic Condition Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015
Carlos Cruz-Diez: A Chromatic Condition Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015.
Carlos Cruz-Diez in his atelier. Paris, 2004
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caura-5, Ed. 33/75, 2015. Lithograph, 23 5/8 x 27 1/2 in. (60 x 70 cm.)
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Couleur à l'Espace, Olot Ed. of 75, 2014, Lithograph, 27 1/2 x 39 7/8 in. (69.9 x 101.3 cm.)
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Induction du Jaune No 201, 2016. Vinyl acrylic paint with airbrushed on aluminum, 47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Autonomía del Color Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2017
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Transchromie, 1965/2007. Plexiglass, 78 11/16 x 78 11/16 x 31 1/2 in.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Labyrinthe de Transchromie, 1965/2019, 566 7/8 x 755 7/8 in. Installed in the Grand Palais for Le Biennale Paris
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Labyrinthe de Transchromie, 1965/2019, 566 7/8 x 755 7/8 in. Installed in the Grand Palais for Le Biennale Paris [detail]
CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ (1923-2019 Venezuela/France)
“Art is a complex structure of communication, expression, discovery, invention.”
Born in Caracas, Carlos Cruz-Diez first studied art at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Aplicadas from 1940 to 1945. While studying there, he participated in a lively discussion group which included artists Jesús Rafael Soto and Alejandro Otero, key figures of the Venezuelan kinetic art movement. He was also influenced by his study of impressionism, as it applied to experiments with color. In his earliest work, Cruz-Diez painted figurative canvases intended to reflect and comment upon social issues. In 1954, influenced by his study of the Bauhaus and the European avant-garde, Cruz-Diez created his first abstract and interactive projects. A year later, he began a series of Objetos rítmicos móviles that consisted of multicolored, movable figures made from wood and, in 1957, he began experimenting with colored light. His first Physichromie--translated as "physical color" these works explore the physical dimension of color--was made in 1959. The following year, Cruz-Diez and his family moved to Paris, where he met Argentine artist Luis Tomasello, and members of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, and he quickly became an important member of the artistic communities there.
In 1971, Cruz-Diez established his workshop on the rue Pierre Sémard, in a former Belle Epoque-era butcher’s shop. From that workshop, he pursued his explorations of color and light with Physichromies, Chromosaturations, Chromo-interference Environments, and large-scale public projects, all of which were developed as investigations into visual and perceptual experiences of color. The artist describes his Chromosaturation series as the exploration of an often-unnoticed reality: “That reality (which I consider visible) leads us along other paths, both perceptive and sensory, to parallel ideas of beauty and sublimation.” Cruz-Diez is internationally considered a master artist of the 20th and 21st centuries for his contributions to the theory and practice of color.
2019
| Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX Semana Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuala Labyrinthus, Galerie Valérie Bach: La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium Cruz-Diez. Hommage à la Couleur, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France Cruz-Diez: a liberdade da Cor, Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro, Sao Paulo, Brazil Cruz-Diez. El Color Haciéndose, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC) Panamá, Panamá City, Panamá |
2018 | Spatial Chromointerference, Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, Houston, TX |
2017 | Carlos Cruz-Diez Autonomía del Color, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez. Mastering Colour, Puerta Roja Gallery, Hong Kong, China. |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez, Galerie Boisséree, Germany, Cologne |
| Chroma, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, Savannah GA |
| Showroom: Vivir en una obra de arte, Odalys Galería de Arte, Madrid, Spain |
2016 | Carlos Cruz-Diez : Intégrations dans l’Architecture, Barnes International Realty, Paris, France |
| Efímeras, La Caja, Centro Cultural Chacao, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Cruz-Diez : du Statique au Dynamique, Galerie Denise René - Espace Marais, Rive Gauche, Paris, France |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: Un etre flottant, Galerie Mitterrand, Paris France |
2015 | Carlos Cruz-Diez. Transfiguration de la couleur, Marlborough Monaco, Monaco, Principality of Monaco |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: A Chromatic Condition, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Didáctica y dialéctica del color, Galería de Arte de la Biblioteca, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Chromatic Transfiguration, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York City, NY |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: Didaktik und Dialektik der Farbe, Das Kleine Museum, Weissenstadt, Germany |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez, Graphicart, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Cruz-Diez: Bidimensional Research 1959-2015, Espace Expression, Miami, FL |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez vuelve a Caracas, Galería Freites, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Atrapando el Color, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Cromointerferencias, Marión Gallery, Panama, Republic of Panama |
2014 | Cruz-Diez en noir et blanc, Maison de l’Amérique Latine, Paris, France |
| Circonstance et Ambiguïté de la Couleur, Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence, France |
| Didactic and Dialectic of Color, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
2013 | Carlos Cruz-Diez, Light Show, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, UK |
2012 | Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: Circumstance and Ambiguity of Color, Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, Nanjing, China and Henan Art Museum, Zhengzhou, China |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space, Jeonbuk Province Art Museum, Jeonbuk, South Korea; Dream Forest Arts Center, Sang Sang Tok Tok Gallery, Seoul, South Korea |
2011 | Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru; Pinacoteca de Estado de São Paulo, Brazil |
2010 | Carlos Cruz-Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL |
| Environment Chromatic-Interferences, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, China |
| Circonstance et Ambiguite de la Couleur, Galerie Denise René, Espace Marais, Paris, France |
2009
| Carlos Cruz-Diez. El Color Sucede, Museu d’Art Espanyol Cotemporani, Palma, Spain; Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca, Spain |
2008 | (In)formed by Color: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Americas Society, New York, NY |
2007 | Carte Blanche, Denise René Gallery, Paris, France |
| La Couleur Dans L’Espace, Maison de l’Amerique llatine, Paris France |
| Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo, Brazil |
2006 | Volume réel, couleur virtuelle, Maison des Arts, Châtillon, France |
| Certain 50 x 50,Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sala Trasnocho Arte Contacto TAC, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez: Die farbe im raum, Galerie Konkret Martin Worn, Sulzburg, Germany; Galerie Emilia Suciu, Ausstellungsdauer, Germany |
| Hommage a Cruz-Diez, Stand Meyer-Zafra, Paris, France |
| La Vida en el Color, Galería Fundación Previsora, Caracas, Venezuela |
2005 | Carlos Cruz-Diez: Interactive Random Chromatic Experience, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| 22 of the future for the future of Vukovar, Muzeum Sztukiw Lodzi, Vukovar, Poland |
| Universe Sprit du Geometrie, The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, Dallas, TX |
2004 | Cruz-Diez. Arte en Guri, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela |
2003 | Cruz-Diez. Afiches. Exposición Homenaje a los 80 Años de Carlos Cruz-Diez, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela |
1999 | Retrospectiva 1954-1998, Museo de Arte Moderno del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela |
1998 | Cruz-Diez: El Color Autónomo, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Sala Múltiple, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez. Un Pionero del Diseñoen Venezuela. De la Empresa Familiar a la Invención de la Fisicromía. 1923-1959, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (CONAC), Caracas, Venezuela |
| Carlos Cruz-Diez “…und gebe dem Raum die Farbe,”Städtishcen Museum, Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Germany |
1995 | Reflexión sobre el Color, Museo Jacobo Borges, Caracas, Venezuela |
1994 | Cromosaturación. Carlos Cruz-Diez. Metamorfosis de lo Efímero. Paneles Pictórios y Laberinto Sensorial, Museo de Arte Moderno, Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, Santo Domino, Dominican Republic |
1993 | Apuntes sobre el Color, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1992 | Carlos Cruz-Diez. La Visión del Color, Museo de Arte de Maracay, Maracay, Venezuela |
1991 | Carlos Cruz-Diez. Paris. Couleurs Additives. Sowie Ankäufe us den Jahren 1987-1990, Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany |
| Cruz-Diez. Color-Arcontecimiento, Museo de Arte Costarricense y Galería Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica |
| Cruz-Diez. Inducciones Cromáticas, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Espacio Simonetti, Valencia, Venezuela |
1989 | Realites de la Peinture, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow & Leningrad, Russia |
| Latin American Art, Hayward Gallery, London, UK; National Museum + Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Palacio Velazquez, Madrid, Spain |
1988 | Carlos Cruz-Diez. Die Autonomie der Farbe. Bilders – Plastiken – Objekte aus den Jahren 1959-1988, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop, Moderne Galerie, Bottrop, Germany |
1985 | Cruz-Diez, Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia |
Arithmeum, Bonn, Germany
Banco Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
Bibliotheque Nationale, Zagreb, Croatia
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas
Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva, Switzerland
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image Imprimee, Belgium
Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Collection of Latin American Art, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Denver Art Museum, Denver Colorado
Erling Neby Collection
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambrige University, Cambridge, UK
Galería de Arte Nacional (GAN), Caracas, Venezuela
GAM - Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland
Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany
Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon France
Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, Canadá
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris France
Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Musee de la Chaux-des-Fonds, Switzerland
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Canadá
Museo Civico, Turin, Italy
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires (MACBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Bogotá, Colombia
Museo de Arte Costarricense, San Jose, Costa Rica
Museo de Arte Moderno “Jesus Soto,” Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Colombia
Museo de Arte Moderno, “La Tertulia,” Cali, Colombia
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de la Solidaridad, Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile
Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum des 20, Jahrhundert, Vienna, Austria
Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK), Vienna, Austria
Museum Moderner Kunst, Cuxhaven Otterndorf, Germany
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, The University of Sydney (JW Power Collection), Sydney, Australia
Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH), Houston, Texas
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Sydney, Australia
Museum of Modern Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Museum Rhode Island, School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
Muzeum Okregowe, Chelm, Poland
Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
Quadrat Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Sonja Henie-Musee d’Art Moderne, Hovikodden, Oslo, Norway
Stadtische Kunsthalle, Manneheim, Germany
Tate Gallery, Millbank, London, UK
Tate Modern, London, UK
The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, California
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Dr, Peter Ludwig Collection, Cologne, France
Wurth Museum, Schawabish Hall, Germany