Yvaral: Progressions

Alon Zakaim Fine Art

YVARAL

PROGRESSIONS

Alon Zakaim Fine Art 5-7 Dover St. London W1S 4LD 30 Cork St. London W1S 3NG T +44 (0)20 7287 7750 F +44 (0)20 7287 7751 gallery@alonzakaim.com www.alonzakaim.com

PROGRESSIONS 1 August - 14 September 2012 Alon Zakaim Fine Art has the pleasure of presenting Progressions, a collection of both seen and unseen paintings by the Op artist Yvaral, to be held in our Dover Street gallery. The son of the famous kinetic artist Victor Vasarely, Yvaral took influence from his father’s complex and futuristic technique whilst evolving and metamorphosing the content into his own unique style. Alongside his abstract, geometric works, Yvaral also fused this structural method with images of Marilyn Monroe, the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty to create dense and vivid portraits.

The exhibition will showcase pieces by Yvaral spanning the 1960s through to the 1990s, a period of intense productivity and creativity for the artist. The paintings utilise rigorous colour interactions and geometrical shapes to achieve their optical illusions of spatial depth. Within these pieces Yvaral employed moiré effects, in which two overlaid grids create the appearance of perspective; and ‘optical acceleration’, which gives the artworks the illusion of having movement whilst the viewer is stationary, suggesting projection and recession within the work. He aimed to create a visual language based on simple codified and programmed elements, reflecting the increasing interest in digital media and the evolution of the computer during this period.

From the 1960s onwards Yvaral is best known for his use of numerical art, in which his paintings are composed according to numerical rules or algorithms. Whilst he often used computers to digitally process and manipulate the images, the final pieces are always hand painted. His preoccupation with numerical art manifested in the Cubic Structures and Structural Horizons series of the 1960s and 1970s, displayed in the exhibition.

Yvaral approached art with a strong scientific spirit, similar to the other members and co-founders of Le Group de Recherché d’Art Visual (GRAV), which included the artists Le Parc, Morellet, and Sobrino. Yvaral said of his practice: “All my work can be reduced to systems of organization used by contemporary scientific research.” Yvaral continued to exhibit with these members globally until 1968.

Yvaral studied graphic art and publicity at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris where he experimented with geometrical abstract art. Later, in 1960, he co-founded Le Group de Recherché d’Art Visual. He made his first completed works with the movement in 1955. In 1966 he had his first one-man exhibition at Howard Wise Gallery in New York.

His work is included in numerous important public and private collections around the world, including Tate and MoMA, and has performed well on both the primary and secondary markets.

Horizontal Structure Mauve 1976 Oil on canvas 64 x 64cm Signed 'YVARAL (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Horizontal Structure Mauve 1976, no 1691' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Horizontal Structure RB 1976 Oil on canvas 64 x 64cm Signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Horizontal Structure RB 1976, no 1659' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Polygamme RT 1969 Tempera on panel 84 x 72cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Polygamme RT 1969, no 993' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Polygamme VI-R 1969 Tempera on panel 84 x 72cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Polygamme VI-R 1969, no 992' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

LibertĂŠ 1992 Oil on canvas 120 x 100cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral LibertĂŠ 1992 SL549' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Progression Polychrome No A - 72 1970 Acrylic on canvas 179 x 179cm Signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre); signed, titled and dated (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, California

Progression Quadri Circulaire V 1971 Tempera on panel 81 x 81cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Progression Quadra-Circulaire V 1971, no 1116' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Quadrature VI 1971 Acrylic on canvas 129.5 x 129.5cm

Provenance: Private collection, California

Structure Cubique B 1974 Acrylic on linen 41 x 41cm Signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Structure Pyramidale Cubique 1974 Acrylic on linen 41 x 41cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Progression Polychrome 1971 Acrylic on canvas 109.2 x 160cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance: Collection of the artist, Paris Beverly Hills Hotel, California Private collection, Oregon Private collection, California

Quadrature Diamant E.V. 1971 Tempera on panel 81 x 81cm Indistinctly signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Quadrature Diamant E.V. 1971, no 1115 (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Structure Rayonnante VP 1972 Oil on canvas 100 x 100cm Signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Structure Rayonnante VP 1972, no 1206' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Quadrature E 1971 Tempera on panel 80 x 80cm Signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Quadrature E 1971, no 1061 (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Quadrature Ovale OC-VF 1971 Acrylic on canvas 163 x 109cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance: Private collection, California

Structure Ambigue Quadri 1970 Acrylic on canvas 129.5 x 129.5cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance: Private collection, California

Structure Ambigue Quadri 1971 Oil on canvas 120 x 120cm Signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Structure Ambigue Quadri Circa BR 1971, no 1102' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Progression Polychrome JV 1973 Oil on canvas 100 x 100cm Signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Progression Polychrome JV 1973, no 1413' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Quadrature Carmin 1972 Oil on canvas 160 x 110cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower right); signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Quadrature Carmin 1972, no 1171' (on the verso)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Structure Cubique Polychrome 1974 Acrylic on linen 61.5 x 33cm Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance: Private collection, USA

Alon Zakaim Fine Art 5-7 Dover St. London W1S 4LD 30 Cork St. London W1S 3NG T +44 (0)20 7287 7750 F +44 (0)20 7287 7751 gallery@alonzakaim.com www.alonzakaim.com