A woman walks past workers hanging the sculpture "Physichromie 2178" by artist Carlos Cruz-Diez at Sotheby's in New York, May 22, 2014. /VCG Photo
Carlos Cruz-Diez, a Venezuelan artist who shaped the field of kinetic and optical art during the 20th century, died in Paris on Saturday, his foundation said on its website on Sunday. He was 95.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Carlos Eduardo Cruz-Diez,” the foundation wrote. “Your love, your joy, your teachings and your colors will remain forever in our hearts.”
Born in Caracas in 1923, he moved to France in 1960 after studying at Caracas’ School of Fine Arts. His abstract works are defined by the use of color and lines to create the impression of movement, and are on display at museums including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, London’s Tate Modern, Paris' Pompidou Centre, and Caracas’ Museum of Fine Arts.
An undated photo shows Carlos Cruz-Diez's Chromosaturation installation being displayed as part of the Light Show at the Hayward Gallery in London, the UK. /VCG Photo
"I started by painting slums, misery," he once said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro.
"I thought artists should be a reporter of their time and I was very admiring of the Flemish paintings such as Brueghel," he said.
"A very long and painful reflection led me not towards abstraction but towards invention. By default. When I understood that paintings could not change social problems."
In a career spanning 70 years, Cruz-Diez focused much of his attention on research into the theory of color, applying it in his work.
He founded three art workshops, in Caracas, in Paris and in Panama, as well as the Cruz-Diez Art Foundation in Houston, Texas, his website noted.
Despite living much of his life in Paris, he left his mark in his native Venezuela, most notably through the colorful murals lining the walls and floors of the Simon Bolivar International Airport serving Caracas.