Julio Le Parc's Melodia exhibition at Galleria Continua Rome

Galleria Continua in Rome presents Melodia, a solo exhibition by Argentine artist Julio Le Parc (born 1928, Mendoza), a precursor of Kinetic Art and Op Art. The show, held at the Hotel St. Regis, traces the evolution of Le Parc's work from the 1960s to the present. After abandoning Concrete Art and Constructivism, in 1960 he co-founded the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV) in Paris, exploring movement effects. A key work is Sphère Noire, an installation of suspended black squares that rotate, reflecting segments of other pieces. Le Parc, a human rights advocate, was awarded at the 1966 Venice Biennale. He developed a personal palette of fourteen colors to achieve a broad spectrum. Despite acknowledging a 'discontinuity' of styles in 1976, the exhibited works—small, medium, and large—are linked by calculations allowing infinite formal and chromatic sequences. The art engages with reality through interaction, perception, and senses, moving beyond two dimensions into three-dimensionality and light. In the 1980s, critic Lea Vergine described kinetic art as the 'last avant-garde,' recognizing artists like Le Parc for responding to industrialization and questioning their social role.