Francisco Salazar

FRANCISCO SALAZAR ( Venezuela, 1937- Paris, 2019).
"Deplacement d'un element immaterial avec un trou (Nº715)", 1987.
Acrylic on cardboard mounted to board.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 102 x 102 x 5 cm.
Work made with acrylic on cardboard mounted on board. To achieve the composition the artist has made a layered dissection of the support thus creating a set of geometric shapes, with which he expresses his volumetric interest in a two-dimensional material. Thus converting the acrylic into a sculptural element. Francisco Salazar's work is characterized by an approach to geometric constructivism that is never confused with rigid schematism. Even in his most voluptuous volumes, the line, the light or the shadow, and sometimes the hollow, mark a geometric counterpoint that orders and gathers the composition and enriches his points of view. Through an expressive and successful play of volumes and lines, of tones and textures, of supports and challenges to gravity.
Francisco Salazar began his studies in architecture at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he developed an interest in spatial relationships and pure forms. In the late sixties, he transformed this interest into his own style within Kinetic Art, focusing on luminous and optical effects. His research into ruptures and continuities in space, and how these affect the viewer's perception, led him to choose corrugated cardboard as his main material. This material allowed him to create three-dimensional patterns in the form of grids, which became the basis of his work.
Using paint and reliefs generated by cutting the cardboard, Salazar achieved visual effects that play with light, giving rise to kinetic dynamics and perceptual vibrations. The interactions between shadows, repetitive patterns and the exhibition space create virtual movements anchored in abstraction. Thus, the artist sought to highlight the relationship between empty and full spaces. His preference for monochromatism arose from the need to handle light with precision, to differentiate and, at the same time, unify both types of space.
Currently his works are part of relevant collections of artists among which stand out; the National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Museum of Modern Art, Medellin, Colombia, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Florida, USA, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, Paris, the Museum of Modern Art Jesus Soto, Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela and the Ateneo de Valencia, Valencia, Venezuela.