Francisco Sobrino

FRANCISCO SOBRINO
[1932, Spain - 2014, France]

Born into a working-class family in Guadalajara, Spain, Francisco Sobrino began his studies of painting and sculpture at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Madrid from 1946 to 1948. He moved to Argentina in 1949 and studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires from 1950 to 1957. During this period, he met many of the artists and writers involved with the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención (AACI), and he began working in geometric abstraction. At the Escuela de Bellas Artes, he also met Hugo Demarco, Julio Le Parc, and Horacio Garcia Rossi. In 1959, Sobrino moved to Paris with Le Parc, where they co-founded the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV). In 1960, Sobrino began making reliefs and then three-dimensional constructions from transparent, tinted acrylic plastic, Plexiglas®. These works were the first of his explorations of juxtaposition and superimposition between the viewer and the work of art. In 1965, his work was included in the exhibition The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, New York, USA.

Light and movement were of special interest to the artists of GRAV, but they were careful to avoid using these as ends in themselves. Instead, light and movement were ways of modifying a particular environment and creating an unexpected situation, to which audience members could respond. The group hoped that such interactive works might lead to a social movement based on collective experience and viewer participation. After numerous group exhibitions throughout Europe, GRAV disbanded in 1968.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Sobrino continued his research into light, using solar energy with the help of solar panels. He also developed his work with modular units, which allowed the viewer to change the sculpture’s form. Plexiglas® continued to be a preferred material for him. In 1971, he worked on sets and costumes for the ballet Requiem, by György Ligeti, performed at the Theatre contemporain de Grenoble. In 1979, he completed his architectural designs for Banco Exterior de España in Guadalajara, Spain. “The first kinetic architecture in the world,” the Kinetic Bank was designed in black and white, with projections on the floors, staircases, and walls; it was later demolished.

Until his death in 2014, Sobrino continued his consistent creative exploration of the relationships between science and art through kinetic, optical, and geometric projects. In 2008, work on the Museo Francisco Sobrino was begun in Guadalajara, Spain. Sobrino’s work has been shown extensively in international museums and collections, and he has completed important architectural commissions in Europe and in Latin America.

2023
Espaces Virtuels, Galerie Mitterrand, Paris, France
Off The Grid: Post-Formal Conceptualism, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2022
MOUVEMENT | Hommage à Denise René, Centre d’art contemporain Bonisson, Rognes, Aix-en-Provence, France 
Relaciones, Museo Francisco Sobrino, Guadalajara, Spain
Francisco Sobrino, Estructura Modular e Luz, Dan Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil
Francisco Sobrino en el Jardín de Esculturas y en el Claustro del Centro de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Castilla-La Mancha, Collección Roberto Polo, Toledo, Spain

2021
A view from Zagreb: Op Art and Kinetic Art, Tate Modern, London, UK

2020
Color into Light, Connecting Currents: Contemporary Art at the Fine Arts Museum Houston in the inaugural installation of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA
The Grid in Modern Latin American Art, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
Dialogues: Cruz Diez, Sobrino, Soto, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
Entre les Lignes, Galerie Wagner, Paris, France

2019
Francisco Sobrino, Espace de l'Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux, France
Francisco Sobrino: TRANSFORMATION INSTABLE, Galerie Mitterand, Paris, France
Luz y movimiento. La vanguardia cinética en París 1950-1975, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante (MACA), Alicante, Spain

2017
Francisco Sobrino, Modus Operandi, Galerie Mitterrand, Paris, France

2016
Joël Stein And The Grav, Galerie Xippas France, Paris, France
Transparence3, Galerie Denise René - Rive Gauche, Paris, France
Movimientos, Galerie Mitterrand, Paris, France
Heterotopias, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Alicante (MACA), Alicante, Spain
Abstracción. Del Grupo Pórtico Al Centro De Cálculo. 1948-1968, Galerìa Guillermo de Osma, Madrid, Spain
Sculpture/ Vision, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA

2015
Francisco Sobrino, Museo Francisco Sobrino, Guadalajara, Spain
Abstracción. Del Grupo Pórtico Al Centro De Cálculo. 1948-1968, Museo Francisco Sobrino, Guadalajara, Spain
Grav en acción , Museo Francisco Sobrino, Guadalajara, Spain
Un tournant | A turning point, Sicardi | Ayres | BacinoGallery, Houston, TX, USA
Julien Prévieux And Francisco Sobrino, Jousse Entreprise, Paris, France
Rendezvous der Länder, Neuhängung der Sammlung Peter C. Ruppert, Konkrete Kunst in Europa nach 1945, Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, NY, USA

Beacon Collection, Boston, MA, USA

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Centre National d’Art Plastique, Paris, France

Colección del Parlamento Provincial, Guadalajara, Spain

Fondazione Peggy Guggenheim, Venice, Italy

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA

Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Cholet, France

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Bilbao, Spain

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Spain

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Villafanes, Spain