Jesus Rafael Soto (1923-2005) was a Venezuelan artist who resided in Paris and was a pioneer of Op and Kinetic Art. He received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Caracas from 1942 to 1947, where he formed friendships with the director of the school Antonio Edmundo Monsanto, an instrumental character to Soto’s career and to fellow friends and students Cruz-Diez and Otero, due to his particular interest in bringing the latest inspirations from foreign countries to his students.
Soto then served as the director of the School of Fine Arts in Maracaibo from 1947 to 1950, at which time he moved to Paris. During this period of time, he opened his first one-man exhibition, held at the Taller Libre de Arte in Caracas in 1949.
Once in Paris, Soto associated with Jean Tinguely and Victor Vasarely getting involved with the Galerie Denise René and the Nouveau Réalistes whilst earning his living in the early days by playing the guitar. His 1951 paintings are based on the repetition of identical geometrical units, whereas his 1952-1957 work is highlighted by the superimposition of perspex sheets marked with a stripe or spiral pattern in front of a patterned plane; the movement of the spectator caused the lines to appear to move, vibrate and dematerialise.
Soto participated in the group exhibition Le Mouvement at Galerie Denise René in 1955, the exhibition that helped to popularize and launch Kinetic Art in the art scene of the time. For many years subsequently, Soto’s art oscillated between organic forms and geometry.
From 1962 his main focus became the production of paintings with suspended with bars, fixed plaques, and other range of materials. It would not be until 1965 that he created a number of wall-sized pieces, where the main motif was the repetition of identical units. Soto developed this concept until it became the environmental installations known as 'Penetrables', with a great number of hanging rods or threads.
He founded the Museum of Modern Art in Ciudad Bolívar in 1973, known nowadays as the Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, a space that houses works by him and other avant-garde artists he admired, including Malevich, Man Ray, and Jean Arp.
Soto passed away at the age of 81 in 2005.