
JESUS RAFAEL SOTO (1923 - 2005, Venezuela/France)
“… in order to achieve abstraction, I thought it was important to find a graphic system that would allow me to codify a reality rather than represent it.”
One of the most important kinetic artists of the 20th century, Jesús Rafael Soto began his artistic career at a very young age, painting posters for movie theaters in his hometown of Ciudad Bolívar. In 1942, he received a scholarship to study art and art history at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in Caracas, where he met fellow students Carlos Cruz-Diez, Mercedes Pardo, Omar Carreño, and Alejandro Otero. During these studies, he began making paintings inflected with Cubism. He noted, “For me, Cubism was an exercise in construction, in the ordering a planes, a tool that helped me to translate the tropical light.” In Caracas, he regularly attended meetings and discussions at the Taller Libre de Art (Open Air Studio), an institution sponsored by the Ministry of Education, in which intellectuals, critics, and artists debated current avant-garde ideas from Europe and Latin America; his first solo exhibition was held at the Taller in 1949. In 1947, Soto was invited to direct the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Maracaibo, where he remained until 1950. That year, he received a grant to travel to France; he settled in Paris, where he found a dynamic community of artists associated with the Salon des Realités Nouvelles and the Galerie Denise René, including Yaacov Agam, Jean Tinguely, Victor Vasarely. He also rejoined many of his friends from school, including Otero and Pardo.
Surrounded by these artists, Soto began to consider ways to move his work from two-dimensions to three, how to engage the viewer in the experience of the work, and how to incorporate the perception of movement into his art. In 1952, he collaborated with Otero, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Antoine Pevsner, Henri Laurens, Jean (Hans) Arp, and others in the Proyecto de Integración de las Artes at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, headed by architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva. The project integrated the art of avant-garde modernists with the university architecture, and it is a signature project of mid-century modernism in Latin America.
Influenced by serialism in modern music, Soto began a series of “serial works” in 1952. In an interview conducted by Hans Ulrich Obrist in 2006, Soto recalled the importance of music to his early production: “In those years, I was trying to find ways to achieve true abstraction. To begin with, what I had to do was, of course, to completely dissociate drawing from its traditional function of representing everyday reality. So I thought of music, where the notes don’t represent anything, but in fact constitute a system of unlimited relationships invented by man. In the same way, in order to achieve abstraction, I thought it was important to find a graphic system that would allow me to codify a reality rather than represent it.” His interest in music was also as a musician; for more than a decade Soto earned his living by playing guitar at bars.
Soto was also influenced by the work of artists Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich, especially in their treatment of geometry and abstraction. Wassily Kandinsky’s text Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912) was an important resource for the young artist as he began making works which suggested movement and instability. In 1947, when László Moholy-Nagy’s book Vision in Motion was published, Soto found another resource to support his ideas about movement and the spectator. By the 1960s, he was immersed in projects in which he used almost no color but, instead, explored the vibrations created by line and its dematerialization (through the inclusion of hanging elements). He also began exploring the idea of haptic art: making works to be touched by the viewer. The most widely known example of this phase of his work are the Penetrables, interactive metal and plastic structures through which the viewer moves; Soto created his first Penetrable in 1967. In an interview of 1970, Soto said, “With penetrables, my most recent creations, this participation becomes tactile, even often auditory. Man interacts with his surroundings. Matter, time and space form a true trinity, and movement is the force which demonstrates the trinity.”
2019
| Soto. The Fourth Dimension. The. Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain Soto: Vibrations, 1950-1960, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY, USA |
2017 | Dans Son Jus, Jesús Rafael Soto, Leon Tovar Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Jesús Rafael Soto: Sound Mural, Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, UK |
| Jesús Rafael Soto: Sound Mural, Cecilia Brunson Projects - Santiago, Chile |
2016 | Virtual Soto, Caleria Cayon, Madrid, Spain |
2015 | Jesús Rafael Soto – Une Rétrospective, Musée Soulages, Rodez, France |
| Soto: Chronochrome, Galerie Perrotin, New York, NY, USA |
| Soto: Estática Dinámico, Galería de Arte Ascaso, Caracas, Venezuela |
2014 | Jesús Rafael Soto: Houston Penetrable, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA |
2013 | Soto dans le collection du Museé national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France |
2010 | Soto: Les harmonies combinatoires, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
2009 | Jesús Rafael Soto, Galerie Max Hetlzer, Berlin, Germany |
2008 | Galería Elvira Gonzalez, Madrid, Spain |
| Leon Tovar Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Robert Sandelson and Contemporary International Art, London, UK |
2006 | Soto Virtual, Trasnocho Cultural, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Virtualidad Vibrante, Centro de Arte La Estancia, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Jesús Rafael Soto, Pablo Goebel Fine Arts, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Visión en Movimiento, Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Visione en Movimiento, Galleria d’Arte Moderna é Contemporaneo, Bergamo, Italy |
| Soto, Galería Theo, Madrid, Spain |
2005 | Visión en Movimiento, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico |
2004 | Galería Dimaca, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Jesus Rafael Soto, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
2003 | Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Venezuela |
| Centro Cultural Metropolitano, Quito, Ecuador |
| Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
2002 | Joan Guaita Art, Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain |
| Dan Galería, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Centro de Arte de Maracaibo Lía Bermúdez, Maracaibo, Venezuela |
| Galería de Arte Ascaso, Caracas, Venezuela |
2001 | Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia |
| Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona |
2000 | Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
| Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico |
| Allianz Versicherungs-AG, Berlin, Germany |
| Fundación Corp Group Centro Cultural, Caracas, Venezuela |
| FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain), Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
1999 | Banque Bruxelles Lambert, Brussels, Belgium |
| Galerie Schoeller, Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Sala de Arte Telefónica, Santiago, Chile |
| Galería de arte La Previsora, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Galerie am Lindenplatz AG, Vaduz, Liechtenstein |
| Galería de Arte Ascaso, Valencia, Venezuela |
1998 | Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil |
| Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, USA |
| Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Espacio Cultural PDV, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain |
| Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA |
| Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Casa Andrade Muricy, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil |
| Durban Segnini Gallery, Coral Gables, FL, USA |
1997 | Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France |
| Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany |
| Museu de Arte Contempôranea da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil |
| Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
| Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea |
| ART 28'97, Galerie Denise René, Basel, Switzerland |
| Galería Durban, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Fairmate Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan |
| J.G.M. Galerie, FIAC, Paris, France |
| National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan |
1995 | Durban-Segnini Gallery, ART MIAMI '95, Miami, FL, USA |
| Galería Exedra, Quito, Equador |
| Galería Durban, FIA, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Espacio Soto, Galería Durban, Caracas, Venzuela |
| Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea |
1994 | Elisabeth Franck Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium |
| Casa de la Cultura Juan Félix Sánchez, Mérida; Ateneo Jesús Soto, Tovar, Venezuela |
| Festival International de Biarritz, France |
| Gallery Seomi, Seoul, South Korea |
| In Khan Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
1993 | Altamira Fine Art, ART ASIA, Hong Kong |
| Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Maracay Mario Abreu, Maracay, Venezuela |
| Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau, France |
| Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal |
| Museo de Arte Moderno - Fundación Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela |
1992 | Galería Theo, ARCO, Madrid, Spain |
| Abbaye Saint-André, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Meymac; Le Carré/Musée Bonnat, Bayonne |
| Altamira Fine Art, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1991 | Gallery 44, Kaarst, Germany |
| Gallery 44, FIAC, Paris, France |
| Humphrey Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Galleria Arte 92, Milan, Italy |
| Galería Quintero, Barranquilla, Colombia |
1990 | Galería Theo, Madrid, Spain |
| Theoespacio, Madrid, Spain |
| Estudio Theo, Madrid, Spain |
| Galerie Sapone, Nice, France. |
| Galleria Eva Menzio, Turin, Italy |
| Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan |
| Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan |
| Iwaki City Art Museum, Iwaki, Japan |
| Itami City Museum of Art, Itami, Japan |
| Galería Theo, Barcelona, Spain |
| Galleria Art Valley 88, Forte dei Marmi, Italy |
| Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany |
1989 | Galerie Hermanns, Munich, Germany |
| Museo de Arte, Coro, Venezuela |
1988 | Ateneo, Boconó, Venezuela |
| Elisabeth Franck Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium |
| Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea |
1987 | Galerie Gilbert Brownstone, Paris, France |
1986 | Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan |
| Contemporary Sculpture Center, Osaka, Japan |
| Expressions Art Gallery, Miami, FL, USA |
1985 | Galería Garcés Velásquez, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Achenbach Art Consulting, Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, FL, USA |
| Hokin Gallery, Miami, FL, USA |
1984 | Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
1983 | Casa de la Cultura, La Victoria, Venezuela |
| Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Venezuela |
| Centro de Bellas Artes, Maracaibo, Venezuela |
| Sala Luzán, Saragossa, Spain |
1982 | Palacio de Velázquez, Madrid, Spain |
| Caja de Ahorros Provincial, Alicante, Spain |
| Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
| Colegio de Arquitectos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain |
| Galería Theo & Sala Celini, Madrid, Spain |
| Galería Quintero, Barranquilla, Colombia |
| Ateneo, Zea, Venezuela |
1981 | Galería de Arte Rolando Oliver Rugeles, Mérida, Venezuela |
| Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Francisco Narváez, Porlamar, Venezuela |
| Galería Témpora, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Casa de Colón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain |
1980 | Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
| Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Sala Ipostel, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Galerie Ferm, Malmö, Sweden |
1979 | Helsinki Kaupungin Taidekokoelmat, Helsinki, Finland |
| Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France |
1978 | Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark |
| Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden |
1977 | Galerie Bonnier, Geneva, Switzerland |
| Centre International de Création Artistique, Sénanque, France |
| Galería El Parque, Valencia, Venezuela |
| Galería Arte Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Bibliothèque Municipale, Cannes, France |
| Galerie Valeur, Nagoya, Japan |
1976 | Galerie Watari, Tokyo, Japan |
1975 | Galería Arte Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela |
1974 | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA |
| Musée Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
| Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA |
| Galerie Denise René, New York, NY, USA |
1973 | Estudio Dos, Valencia, Venezuela |
| Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Galleria Corsini, Intra (Lac Majeur), Italy |
| Galleria Godel, Rome, Italy |
| Galería Arte Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela |
1972 | Estudio Actual, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland |
| Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Galleria Levi, Milan, Italy |
| Formes et Muraux, Lyon, France |
| Marlborough Godard, Toronto, Canada |
| Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia |
1971 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
| Akron Art Center, Akron, OH, USA |
| Galerie Denise René/Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Galleria Rotta, Milan, Italy |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Kunstverein, Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| Ariete Graphica, Milan, Italy |
| Galería de Arte, INCIBA, Palacio de las Industrias, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia |
1970 | Galleria de la Nova Loggia, Bologne, Italy |
| Galerie Godard Lefort, Montréal, Canada |
| Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany |
| Pfalzgalerie des Bezirksverbandes, Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany |
| Galerie Semiha Huber, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
| Galerija Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb, Yugoslavia |
| Galerie Buchholz, Munich, Germany |
1969 | Galleria Notizie, Turin, Italy |
| Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy |
| Galleria Flori, Florence, Italy |
| Galleria Giraldi, Livourne, Italy |
| Estudio Actual, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Galerie Bonnier, Geneva, Switzerland |
| Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Théâtre du Huitième, Lyon, France |
1968 | Galerie Françoise Mayer, Brussels, Belgium |
| Kunsthalle, Berne, Switzerland |
| Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany |
| Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium |
| Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France |
| Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome, Italy |
| Galleria Lorenzelli, Bergamo, Italy |
1967 | Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1966 | Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Pfalzgalerie des Bezirksverbandes, Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy |
| Galleria del Deposito, Genoa, Italy |
| Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy |
| Centro Arte Viva-Feltrinelli, Trieste, Italy |
1965 | Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| Galerie Edouard Loeb, Paris, France |
| Signals Gallery, London, UK |
1964 | Galerie Müller, Stuttgart, Germany |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1963 | Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany |
1962 | Galerie Ad Libitum, Anvers, Belgium |
| Galerie Edouard Loeb, Paris, France |
1961 | Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Essen, Germany |
| Galerie Brusberg, Hanover, Germany |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1959 | Galerie Iris Clert, Paris, France |
| Galleri Vallingatan, Stockholm, Sweden |
1957 | Galerie Aujourd'hui, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium |
| Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela |
1956 | Galerie Denise René, Paris, France |
1949 | Taller Libre de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela |
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
Fondazione Calderara, Vacciago di Ameno, Italy
Fondazione Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri, Seggiano (Grosseto), Italy
Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milan, Italy
Fonds Départemental d'Art Contemporain, Val-de-Marne, France
Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
Fundación ARCO, Madrid, Spain
Fundación César Manrique, Teguise, Lanzarote (Iles Canaries), Spain
Fundación Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela
Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Roma, Italy
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
Ho-Am Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Itami City Art Museum, Itami, Japan
The Iwaki City Museum, Iwaki, Japan
Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
Le Musée Martiniquais des Arts des Amériques – M2A2, Le Lamentin, France
Louisiana, Humlebaek, Denmark
Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Muezul de Arta Universala Burcuresti, Bucarest, Romania
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada
Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
Musée de Sculpture en Plein Air, Middelheim, Belgium
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau, France
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Latino Americano Contemporáneo de Managua, Nicaragua
Museo de Arte Moderno - Fundación Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Moderno de Mérida Juan Astorga Anta, Mérida, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de La Asegurada, Alicante, Spain
Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile
Museo Luis González Robles, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA
Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan
Museum Wurth, Kunzelsau, Germany
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, NY, USA
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reflex Miniature Museum of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands
Sammlung Lenz Schönberg, Munich, Germany
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA
Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hanovre, Germany
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tate Gallery, London, UK
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tongyoung Nammang Open Air Sculpture Park, Tongyoung City, South Korea
Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany
Universal Graphic Museum, Giza, Egypt