Debuted at the Venice Biennale in 1970, Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Chromointerférence Mécanique perfectly synthesizes the artist’s exploration of color that has put him at the forefront of contemporary art discourse for the past six decades. Its title distills the core elements of Cruz-Diez’s practice: Chromointerférence expresses his understanding of color as an ephemeral phenomenon produced by light and movement, independent of representation or even form, while Mécanique underpins the kinetic component of his work that places him alongside such pioneering artists as Jesús Rafael Soto. In the present work, a circular piece of Plexiglas printed with a pattern of lines rotates above the multi-colored background of his so-called Couleur additive modules. What was left to the movement of the observer in his famous Physiochromies, is here established objectively by automated movement. New colors emerge from the apparent blending of pre-existing ones.

It was in 1959 during a brief visit to Venezuela that Cruz-Diez had an epiphany, prompting a series that in 1966 culminated in his Chromointerférence works. Exploring how the interference of patterned line with identical or varied frequencies generate a range of colors, a year later he pushed the central tenets of this series even further through the inclusion of a motor. It was with works such as Chromointerférence Mécanique that Cruz-Diez cemented his international recognition when he exhibited at the Venezuelan Pavilion in the 35th Venice Biennale in 1970. The present work was one of twelve mechanical Chromointerférences included, each producing varying and astonishing patterns of movement.