Carlos Cruz Diez, Chromosaturation for a public walkway

Carlos Cruz Diez
Chromosaturation for a public alley, Paris, 1965-2012
Steel, polycarbonate
730 x 48 x 240 cm (each module)
Courtesy of the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA (San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, Havana, Rome, Sao Paulo, Paris, Dubai)

Designed in Paris in 1965, Chromosaturation is an artificial environment made up of three colored chambers - one blue, one red and one green - which immerse visitors in a situation of absolute monochromy.

The disruption this experience causes in the retina of the viewer, accustomed to perceiving a wide range of colors simultaneously, acts as a detonator and awakens the following notion in the viewer's consciousness: color is a material, physical situation that takes place in space and time without the aid of form or any support, and independently of any cultural convention.

Presented in 2012 as part of the FIAC Hors les Murs program, in the heart of the Jardin des Tuileries, this work has the particularity of being composed of two structures placed opposite each other. A dialogue similar to that found in Chromosaturation et promenade chromatique pour un lieu public (Paris, 1969) presented at Place de l'Odéon, Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris.

Here, Cruz-Diez proposes a succession of colorful atmospheres, allowing the viewer to see the transfiguration of his or her immediate surroundings; a simple situation that awakens the perception and sensitivity of the viewer.

Born in 1923 in Caracas, Venezuela. Died in 2019 in Paris, France. Carlos Cruz Diez is a major figure in contemporary art, often associated with the optical and kinetic art movements. His research has made him one of the twentieth-century thinkers on color. Carlos Cruz-Diez's visual discourse is based on the chromatic phenomenon, conceived as an autonomous reality that evolves in space and time, without the aid of form or support, in a continuous present.