Biography of Carlos Cruz-Diez
Legendary Venezuelan painter and installation artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez is a prominent figure within the kinetic art movement. His pioneering research into the nature and origins of color has led to a marked change in our understanding of color, its theory, and its form. Carlos Cruz-Diez explored color in eight series: Couleur Additive, Physichromie, Induction, Chromatique, Chromointerférence, Transchromie, Chromosaturation, Chromoscope, and Couleur à l'Ecareer. His works include paintings, silkscreen prints, large-scale light installations, and enormous projects in public spaces.
Carlos Cruz-Diez, the master of light, was born 1923 in Caracas, Venezuela. He enrolled at the School of Fine Art, Caracas at age 17. After graduating he spent years working as a graphic designer but then changed path and focused on theories of color when he became unsatisfied with the small impact his work was having on the history of art. Carlos Cruz-Diez moved to Paris in 1960, realizing that this was the epicenter of the kinetic art movement and that this is where he could fully develop his new theory. Throughout his career and works, Carlos Cruz-Diez shows that through a relationship with the viewer, color exists in real time and space, as an autonomous and evolving phenomena.
Carlos Cruz-Diez has had solo exhibitions at Puerta Roja in Hong Kong, SmithDavidson Gallery in New York, Marion Gallery in Panamá and Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. His work is featured prominently in significant public collections worldwide including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland; MoMA, New York; and the Tate Gallery, London as well as many others worldwide. He has been honored with countless awards spanning his career that include the medal for Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His home city of Caracas opened the Carlos Cruz-Diez Print and Design Museum in 2002.
