
ANTONIO ASIS (1932-2019, Argentina/France)
Antonio Asis began studying art at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes when he was 14. Subsequently, at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón, he studied composition with Héctor Cartier who encouraged the young artist to explore the many diverse applications of the principles of design and composition. The class was influential for Asis, as were the after-class conversations with his classmates, which continued at the Bar Splendid, a local café at the intersection of Ayacucho and la Avenida Las Heras in Buenos Aires. Throughout the 1940s, Asis explored abstraction and non-representational art; with the publication of Arturo magazine in 1944 and the creation of the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, Buenos Aires was an important site for the development of post-war abstraction.
In the spring of 1956, Asis moved to Paris, like many of his colleagues and friends, where he quickly became part of an international circuit of kinetic artists; among others, he befriended Yaacob Agam, Nicolas Schöffer, Jesús-Rafael Soto, Jean Tinguely, and Victor Vasarely. Surrounded by this dynamic milieu, he began a series of work in which he considered how the phenomena of light could be mediated through photography. Shortly afterward, he began to study vibrations between colors and the many possibilities within monochromatic compositions. Like many of his rioplatense colleagues, Asis was deeply influenced by the ideas of Max Bill and Georges Vantongerloo, important artists and theorists of European abstraction. In 1971, Asis co-founded an artist group, Position, which included Carlos Agüero, Armando Durante, Hugo Demarco, and Horacio García Rossi, all Argentine artists living in Paris, and all interested in movement and the vibrations of light.
2017
| Paintings on Paper 1960-76, The Drawing Room, New York, NY, USA |
2016 | Untitled BoothD5, KaBe Contemporary, Miami, FL, USA |
| The Illusive Eye, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, USA |
2015
| Cercles Concentriques 1961-2011, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY, USA |
2014 | Antonio Asis: Geometría Libre, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
| Antonio Asis: Selected Work 1970-2003, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY, USA |
2013
| Antonio Asis: From Color to Motion, KaBe Contemporary, Miami, FL, USA (with exhibition catalog) |
| Antonio Asis, Espace Meyer Zafra, Paris, France |
| Circulos Cromaticos, Galeria Freijo Fine Art, Madrid, Spain |
| Antonio Asis, RCM Galerie, Paris, France |
2012
| Antonio Asis: Un Universo Vibrante, Museo Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
2011
| Antonio Asis: Interferencias Celestes, Galerie N. Mariño, Paris, France |
2009 | Galerie Nerry Mariño, Paris, France |
| Hommage à Antonio Asis, Espace Meyer Zafra, Paris, France |
2007
| Chromatic Energies, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA (with exhibition catalog) |
1995
| Expression visuelle, Galleria Arte Struktura, Milan, Italy and Galerie Claude Dorval, Paris, France (with exhibition catalog) |
1989
| Atelier Antonio Asis – Oeuvres des années 50 à 70, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France (with exhibition catalog) |
1984
| Centre de Recherche Artistique Contemporaine, Verifica 8+, Venice, Italy |
1983 | Galerie J. & J. Donguy, Paris, France (with exhibition catalog) |
| Galleria d’Arte Santostefano, Sarnico, Italy |
1975 | Galleria la Polena, Genova, Italy (with exhibition catalog) |
1972 | Maison de la Culture, Rennes, France (with exhibition catalog) |
1971 | Estudio Actual, Caracas, Venezuela (with exhibition catalog) |
1970 | Galerie Krebs, Bern, Switzerland (with exhibition catalog) |
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, FL, USA
Collection Jean et Colette Cherqui, Paris, France
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Latinoamericano (MACLA), La Plata, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (MSSA), Santiago, Chile
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional de Nicaragua, Managua, Nicaragua
Museo Nacional Tres de Febrero (MUNTREF), Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX, USA