Born 1936 in Valera (Venezuela), lives and works in Paris since 1970

Originals / Multiple

The Geometric Abstraction Movement emerged in Europe in the early 1900’s. From this point, Mondrian’s Neo-Plasticism and Malevitch’s Suprematism provided the inspiration for their successors. While Itten and Albers were concerned with the rules of form and color, Moholy-Nagy pioneered the development of kinetic three-dimensional works. Afterwards, Herbin and Vasarely created an abstract pictorial alphabet, which predates the Kinetic and Op-Art Movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s. In the 1950’s, Jesus Raphaël Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez came to Paris from Latin America, guided by their desire to paint in an abstract, constructive manner and became involved in the creation and development of the Optical and Kinetic movements.

Born in 1936 in the Andes-Cordilleras, Dario Perez-Flores studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia and the Central University of Venezuela. Under the influence of Soto and Cruz-Diez, Pérez-Flores joined the Optical Movement in 1970. During the 1980’s the Venezuelan artist began to add colors to his sequential paintings, naming the series “Prochromatique.“ These works create a subtle optical vibration that attracts the spectator towards their center, as if moved by a visual and mysterious emotion. Because of the use of verticals in relief against a linear background, Perez Flores’ paintings are similar to those of Soto, Agam and Cruz-Diez, yet distinguish them by the vibrant use of the color spectrum in producing subtle rainbow-like effects.

Goethe stated, “Color should be the concept of nature for the visual sense of the eye…. Within the sequence of the essential phenomenon of nature, color has a very high rank; though being assigned to a simple sphere, it displays itself to an incontestable richness…“ For Perez-Flores color acts foremost as a vehicle for creativity, perception, spirit and system. The series of diagonal, dynamic-chromatic works, created in the early 1990’s, showed these particular aspects of the artist’s color theory, especially the function of color as a subtle means to the realization of the phenomenon of space linked to the kinetic dynamism of the work.

In his recent work Perez-Flores tries to overcome his mathematical structures with a pictorial manipulation of space offering a system of formal plasticity. The paintings exhibit a simulated movement, which is achieved through combining colorful stripes painted on panel with rods that are sequentially suspended parallel to the surface of the painting. The spectator actually initiates the subtle movements of the works through their own introspection and perception of various coloristic values.

Training

1957-61 Ecole d’Arts plastiques de Valencia, Venezuela
1965-69 Licences ès lettres, Université Centrale du Venezuela
1970-73 Arts plastiques à l’Université de Paris, Faculté de Vincennes


Prizes

1961 Prix de sculpture, Salon « Casa de los Andes » Valencia Venezuela
1966 Prix de sculpture, 1er Salon des Jeunes Sculpteurs, Cité Universitaire, Caracas
1967 Prix de Sculpture, Université de Carabobo, V Salon d’art plastique, Maison de la Culture Maracay, Venezuela
1968 Prix Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, II Salon des jeunes sculpteurs, Cité Universitaire, Caracas
1969 Prix Fundacion Belloso, Salon d’ Empaire, Maracaïbo
1970 Prix Julio Morales lara, Salon Arturo Michelena, Valencia, Venezuela
1984 Premier Prix de Peinture, Salon Arturo Michelena, Valencia, Venezuela


Solo Exhibitions

1971 Galerie Suzanne Bolag, Zürich
1973 Galerie Adelphi, Padoue, Italie
1973 Centro d’Arte Santelmo, Salo, Italie
1974 Galerie du Haut Pavé, Paris
1979 Camara de Commercio, Valencia, Venezuela
1981 Galerie Denise René, Paris
1982 Galerie Graphique CB/2, Caracas
1983 Galerie Denise René, Paris
1984 Galerie Latzer, Kreuzlingen
1985 Galerie El Parque, Valencia, Venezuela
1986 Galerie Denise René, Paris
1988 Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn
1988 Galerie Lynedjian, Lausanne
1990 Galerie Jacques Raymond, Bonn
1991 Galerie Sankt Johann, Saarbrücken
1991 Villa Kenwin, La Tour-de-Peilz
1993 Galerie Denise René, Paris
1994 Galerie Lydia Jametti, Bachenbülach
1994 Galerie Amaryllis, Bruxelles, Belgique
1996 Galerie Lynedjian, Lausanne
1997 Galerie am Lindenplatz, Schaan, Liechtenstein
1998 Galerie Art Nouveau, Maracaibo, Venezuela
2000 Galerie de Arte Ascaso, Valencia, Venezuela
2002 Galerie Latzer, Kreuzlingen
2005 Galerie Denise René, Paris
2006 Galerie Benoot, Knokke-zoute, Belgique
2006 Geselschaft für Künst Gestaltung, Bonn
2007 Galerie La Ligne, Zürich

Group Exhibtions

1961 Salon « Casa de los Andes » Valencia, Venezuela

1965 Salon national d’Art, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas

1968 2ième Salon de Jeunes Sculpteurs, cité Universitaire, Caracas

1971 Grands et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui, Paris

1972 Salon Réalités Nouvelles, Paris / Salon Comparaisons, Paris

1974 Multimédia, Aspects de l’art contemporain, Erbusco (I)

1977 Abstraction Vivante, « La Galerie », Esplanade de la Défense à Paris

The Group of Young Artists International, National Museum Art, Singapore

1980 Peintres Vénézuéliens à Paris, Ambassade du Vénézuéla

1980 Salon de Mai, Paris

1985 Salon Groningen, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Copenhague

1986 FIAC au Grand Palais, Paris

1990 Arco- Madrid, Espace Denise René

1990 Art Frankfort

1990 Foire de Bâle, Art 21’90

2007 Art 21, Kunst Zürich 07 Galerie La Ligne Zürich

2008 Kunst 08 Zürich Galerie La Ligne Zürich



Public collections

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Venezuela

Galerie nationale d’Art, Caracas

Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris

Schweizerische Bank Gesellschaft, Zürich

Gallery Waitingroom Ingram, Monaco

South East Bank, Miami

Centre Apollo Lausanne

Caisse Nationale d’Assurance (CNA) Suisse

Museum Würth