FRANCISCO INFANTE | Spiral

signed in Cyrillic and dated '1965' l.r.tempera on paperThe least Russian-sounding artist of this period, Francisco Infante-Arana was born in the suburbs of Moscow to a Spanish father and Russian mother, and was a key figure in the movement founded by Lev Nusberg in 1962, 'Dvizhenie' ('Movement'). Engaged in a wide range of activities ranging from early, static works in painting and sculpture to kinetic constructions, performance and installations, the story of this group is a fascinating chapter in the non-conformist story. Infante contributed to at least thirty unofficial exhibitions in the Soviet Union during the 1960s. He was interested in Land Art and became a talented photographer, but is best known to many collectors for his gorgeous tempera paintings of twisting shapes and bright geometric designs. From the outset, these appealed to scientists and engineers and were exhibited in professional 'alternative spaces' such as the Architects' Club in Leningrad (1965) and the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow (1966). He designed artificial systems consisting of moving and revolving forms constructed out of concrete material as well as color, light, and sound. The 'Spiral' series of 1965 is a classic example of his interest in mobile and dynamic systems, or 'kinetic' art, combined with his obsession with the idea of infinity. 'In my last years of studies', Infante recalled in his autobiography, 'I was struck by the strange anxiety, provoked by a deep personal realization, that the world is infinite. This agitation didn't go away and was so strong, that I was seeking to express it through my works'.  With its infinite tendency, the perfectly balanced spiral was the ideal motif for exploring this dizzying concept: ‘the result is a line turning endlessly in space which, in its momentum, elicits associations with other cosmic oppositions such as good and evil, life and death’ (see https://monoskop.org/Francisco_Infante).

International Images Gallery, Sewickley
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1993

Moscow, Moscow Committee of the Union of Graphic Artists, 1979
Sewickley, International Images Gallery, 'Recent Paintings and Prints from Eastern Europe', 1987
Sewickley, International Images Gallery, 'Infante from Moscow: Artefacts - Photo Constructions and Spiral Illusions', 1989
Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art, 'The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965 - 1990', 1990
Greensboro, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, 1991, 'The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad', 1965 - 1990'
Little Rock, Arkansas Art Center, 'The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965 - 1990', 1991
Sewickley, International Images Gallery, 'Selections from The Quest for Self-Expression', 1991
Great Falls, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, 'Art after Glasnost', 1992
Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art, 'Red Horizon: Contemporary Art and Photography in the USSR and Russia, 1960-2010', 2017

Exhibition catalogue 'The Quest for Self-Expression: Painting in Moscow and Leningrad, 1965-1990', Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, 1990, p.96 listed 

The sheet is very slightly uneven and there are some flecks of surface dirt. Otherwise in overall very good condition and ready to hang. Held in a silver metal frame behind plexiglass. Unexamined out of frame.
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