Marlborough Graphics is pleased to present an exhibition which will highlight the prints and multiples of the Venezuelan Kinetic and Op artist Jesús Rafael Soto. The artist’s work oscillates between the real and the imaginary, between lyricism and irony, and is categorized by geometrical forms fixed in a permanent state of ambiguity. Presented in this exhibition will be a grouping of works that Soto published with Marlborough Graphics.

The exhibition will highlight the artist’s Jai Alai series, which takes its name from the sport in which is played by rapidly catching and throwing a ball with a handmade basket-like mitt. Inspired by the swift movements of the players, Soto sought to create a series which embodied this continuous motion.

Born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela in 1923 and trained at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Artes Aplicadas in Caracas, Soto found his formative inspiration in the 1950’s Parisian avant-garde, moving to Paris and connecting with Jean Tinguely, Victor Vasarely, Yaacov Agam, and others associated with the Salon des Realités and the Galerie Denise René.  Soto also claimed optical artists Kazimir Malevich, Yves Klein, and Piet Mondrian as vital to his creative process due to their utter lack of regard for the “object” in favor of an exploration and materialization of the ephemeral.

The work of Jesús Rafael Soto is included in the collections of  the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Gallery, London; Stadelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Jésus Rafael Soto Museum of Modern Art, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France; and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.