Jesús Rafael Soto(1923-2005)

Hokin Gallery, Chicago
Private Collection, North America
Sale: Wright, New York, Living Contemporary, April 26, 2012, lot 116, illustrated in color
Private Collection, Aventura

This work is in very good condition overall. All of the metal and wire elements are accounted for and secure. A few minor scuffs are present on the back panel of the work.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

It could be argued that all of Western painting has been nothing but an attempt to deceive the eye; to succeed, by a series of tricks, in making a flat surface seem deep, to make what is static simulate movement, to make the opaque seem luminous and transparent.

The old Mannerist painters took great pleasure in the ingenious game of simulating doors or cupolas that did not exist, in order to deceive the spectator. In a certain sense all paintings, from the Renaissance to Cubism, has been nothing but a refined form of this trompe-l’oeil. It was necessary to create an autonomous object which would not deceive and which would simulate neither light nor movement nor space, but invade it or really create it.

This was the task of the kinetic artists, and within that undertaking the Venezuelan Jesús Soto is one of those who have contributed most toward creating that new dimension of spaces, forms, and forces.

By the superimposition on different planes of thin lines and mobile objects, he created an infinite possibility of vibration and variation: those slender metal rods or wire spider webs which tremble unceasingly over the black and white stripes of the background. As the spectator moves he enters into this play, provokes it and completes it.

Arturo Uslar Pietri, El Nacional, Caracas, 1 August 1971