Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923-2019), Venezuela
2016
Creative activities
One of the most important artists of the 20th century, Carlos Cruz-Diez was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1923. He studied typography and graphic design at the city’s university and in the 1970s, he expanded his knowledge by studying kinetic techniques at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has lived and worked in Paris since 1959. Cruz-Diez has spent his entire life exploring art, especially the kinetic and optical elements of colour. His art can be described as geometric abstraction. During his studies he was interested in the work of Georges Seurat and Josef Albers, who had experimented with colours, exploring their interactions, aesthetics and how they are perceived. His art features the moiré effect, or the interference patterns caused by superimposing two regular, nearly identical grids. He has also taught at art schools in France and in his native Venezuela.
