Carlos Cruz-Diez - Legacy

Legacy

On December 17, 1997, the Carlos Cruz-Diez Print and Design Museum in Caracas, Venezuela, opened to the public. The museum offers education and resources to the general public to expand artistic audiences, while supporting contemporary Venezuelan artists. The museum will strive to create a, “graphic image of the country,” Carlos-Cruz Diez serves as founder and president. One of Cruz-Diez’s sculptures, constructed in Caracas, Venezuela, was recently demolished to make way for a scenic view of a port. It was noted that the structure was covered in graffiti, not maintained by public works and became more of an eyesore than a work of art. After Cruz-Diez offered to send his own studio apprentices to help with the restoration of the work, to Cruz-Diez’s and several art advocacy groups’ disapproval, the Caracas government continued with the demolition.

Recently, a contemporary London-based Venezuelan artist, Jaime Gili, exhibited “Homenaje a Cruz-Diez, 2006” in Riflemaker Gallery, Soho, NY using colored tiles and metal sheets. The pieces of tiles came directly from Cruz-Diez now defunct public structure, “Fisicromia Homenaje a Don Andres Bello, 1982. This homage to the Venezuelan icon represents the impact Cruz-Diez has left on the new generation of emerging artists with cultural ties to Venezuela. In contrast to the isolated incident of the demolition his public work, he has been commemorated by the museum, designed a piece for the Caracas international airport. He specializes in kinetic art, as well as trying to promote Venezuelan art into the international art scene. Cruz-Diez is also said to have served as Miuccia Prada's inspiration for a recent succession of Prada boutiques that pay homage to the artist. Designed by Italian architect Roberto Baciocchi for the brand's locations in London's Westfield Stratford City, Qingdao, Harbin, and Shenyang, the architecture features backlit vertical compositions that jut out in high relief to create an optical illusion, with their series of aluminium, steel and golden blades producing a moiré effect often associated with the artist.

In 1997, Cruz-Diez was appointed for life the president and member of the superior council of the "Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez" Foundation, Caracas. In 1998, he was appointed as an honorary member of Academia de Ciencias, Arte y Letras, Mérida, Venezuela. Carlos Cruz-Diez has had individual exhibitions in several museums and galleries, including Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas (1955), Museum am Ostwall in Dortmund (1966), XXXV Venice Biennale in Italy (1970), and Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico (1976). He was a special guest at the 1986 Venice Biennale.

His works have recently sold in US auction at $55,000 He is represented in museums internationally, and is a pioneer in artistic color theory and perception. Despite his lack of political content in his work, he still remains an international Venezuelan icon, because of the progress contributed to the fine and graphic art worlds in Caracas and abroad. It has been noted that Kinetic Art is to Venezuela what Muralism is to Mexico.

Because of his attention to light and color aesthetics he belongs to a lineage that includes all colorists, such as Seurat, Cezanne, Albers, and Frank Stella.