Renowned Argentine artist Julio Le Parc, one of the most influential figures in the local and international art world and a master of kineticism, died last Saturday in Paris at the age of 97.
Based in France since the late 1950s, Le Parc built a body of work that transcended borders and made him one of the most globally recognized Argentine artists, with a career that stretched through seven decades of experimenting with light, movement, color, and the active participation of the viewer.
A kinetic master
Born in 1928 in Mendoza, he studied art in his home province and Buenos Aires. A scholarship led him to Paris in 1958, where he would later settle for good. His early pieces included drawings and chromatic studies, some of which would evolve into some of his most emblematic works.In France, he created the Visual Art Research Group (GRAV) together with artists such as Francisco García Miranda, Horacio Demarco, Jean-Pierre Yvaral and Joël Stein. Challenging the art system, the group stated that the artistic goal was constituted by movement and by the participation of the public.His definitive consecration came in 1966, when he won the International Painting Prize of the Venice Biennale, one of the most prestigious awards in the art world.
