- Title
- Multiplication électronique II (Electronic Multiplication II)
- Date Made
- 1966
- Medium
- Plexiglas, wood, light bulbs, electric motor
- Dimensions
- 35 5/8 × 35 5/8 × 9 7/8 in. (90.49 × 90.5 × 25.1 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2020.217
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
In his kinetic artworks, Gregorio Vardanega employed motors and electricity to explore the aesthetic possibilities of light and color in motion. Electronic Multiplication II demonstrates his deep interest in cybernetics, electronic programming, and sequences, which he incorporated into his inventive sculptures. Light bulbs blink at intervals, illuminating the squares around them in a pattern suggestive of a system of communication. The title hints at the mathematical and computational underpinnings that guide the lit artwork.
Born in Italy, Vardanega moved to Buenos Aires as a child. By the mid-1950s, he was a central figure in the city’s avant-garde circles and a founding member of the groups Asociación Arte Nuevo (New Art Association) and Artistas No Figurativos Argentinos (Argentinian Non-Figurative Artists). His interests in abstraction and nonrepresentational art led to his innovations in kinetic art after traveling to Paris in 1948, where he met Denise René (1913–2012), a pioneering gallerist who promoted kinetic art internationally. A decade later, Vardanega returned to Paris permanently with his wife Martha Boto (1925–2004; M.2018.85), and the two became part of an international cohort of kinetic artists, including several from South America.
Rachel Kaplan
2024