Julio Le Parc

Julio Le Parc (Mendoza, Argentina, 1928)

Julio Le Parc was born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1928 and currently lives and works in Paris where he has resided since the late 1950s.

For more than 50 years,  Le Parc has been exploring spectatorship, movement and participation.

In 1964 he was awarded the Special Prize (acquisition) in the Premio Internacional Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in 1966, the International Painting Grand Prix at the XXXIII Venice Biennale, Italy.  Following his expulsion from Paris in 1968, he travelled around various European countries only to return five months later when the restriction was revoked.

Le Parc participated in Unofficial Latin America, held in Paris, and the Medellín Biennial in Colombia in 1970. Le Parc’s first solo exhibition was held at the Howard Wise Gallery, New York (1966), which was followed by his first retrospective exhibition, held at the Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1967). Subsequently Le Parc has had numerous retrospective exhibitions in major museums in Havana, Düsseldorf, Montevideo, Caracas, Asunción, Mexico City, Stockholm, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Santiago de Chile, and Porto Alegre.

His most recent solo exhibitions were held at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2013), Casa Daros in Rio de Janeiro (2014) and the Museu de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2014). Notable writings include: A propósito de arte espectáculo...(With regard to spectacle art...); Función social del arte en la sociedad contemporánea (The social function of art in contemporary society); Color 1959 (Colour 1959); and El artista en el context social actual  (The artist in the present social context). He participated, with the Denuncia group, in the collective work Torture (1972) and joined the International Brigade of Antifascist Painters (1975).