yvaral: progressions

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

[email protected]

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 lan-

guage based on simple codified and programmed elements, reflecting the increasing interest in digital media and the evo-

lution 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 accord-

ing 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 Struc-

tural 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 Re-

cherché 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 geomet-

rical 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:


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:


Polygamme VI-R

1969

Tempera on panel

84 x 72cm


'Yvaral Polygamme VI-R 1969, no 992' (on the verso)

Provenance:


Liberté

1992

Oil on canvas

120 x 100cm


'Yvaral Liberté 1992 SL549' (on the verso)

Provenance:


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


'Yvaral Progression Quadra-Circulaire V 1971, no


Provenance:


Quadrature VI

1971

Acrylic on canvas

129.5 x 129.5cm

Provenance:


Structure Cubique B

1974

Acrylic on linen

41 x 41cm

Signed 'YVARAL’ (lower centre)

Provenance:


Structure Pyramidale Cubique

1974

Acrylic on linen

41 x 41cm

Signed 'YVARAL' (lower centre)

Provenance:


Progression Polychrome

1971

Acrylic on canvas

109.2 x 160cm


Provenance:

Collection of the artist, Paris

Beverly Hills Hotel, California

Private collection, Oregon


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:


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:


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:


Quadrature Ovale OC-VF

1971

Acrylic on canvas

163 x 109cm


Provenance:


Structure Ambigue Quadri

1970

Acrylic on canvas

129.5 x 129.5cm


Provenance:


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:


Progression Polychrome JV

1973

Oil on canvas

100 x 100cm

Signed, titled and dated 'Yvaral Progression Polychrome JV 1973, no


Provenance:


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:


Structure Cubique Polychrome

1974

Acrylic on linen

61.5 x 33cm


Provenance:



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

[email protected]

www.alonzakaim.com