Luis Tomasello Argentinian, 1915-2014

Luis Tomasello (b. 1915 La Plata, Argentina – d. 2014 Paris, France), a leading representative of Latin American Kinetic art, worked extensively in Paris from the late 1950s onwards exhibiting with Galerie Denise René, alongside Victor Vasarely and Jesús Rafael Soto.

Tomasello studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, and began as a Concrete artist, looking to Mondrian for inspiration. It was after settling in Paris in 1957, however, that he began working in relief, moving away from the linear nature of geometric abstraction, directing his interest to form and colour effects: ‘I went to relief as an experience and in that process, I discovered the wonderful world of light. The reflection of colour on the surface fascinated me and that is what I’ve worked in from that time on.’

Tomasello developed a unique form of Op art, known for his Atmospheres Chromoplastiques in which 3D relief patterns of cubes and pegs reflect colour and shadows onto a white surface. He was Included in the landmark Op Art show La Lumiere et le Mouvement, 1967 in Paris and as well as exhibiting extensively internationally, he completed numerous large-scale public art commissions in Argentina, France, Mexico, and the United States.