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Vardánega Gregorio

*1923 Possagno / Italy - †2007 Paris / France

Gregorio Vardánega was born in Possagno, Italy and moved to Argentina with his family when he was three years old. He was introduced to engraving techniques and drawing by one of his brothers, which led him to pursue an artistic career. In 1939, he enrolled in the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In 1946, the artist joined the Asociacion Arte Concreto-Invencion. This led to his travels to Europe, where he met several influential artists, including Georges Vantongerloo, Antoine Pevsner, Max Bill, Constantin Brancusi, Bruno Munari, Sonia Delaunay, and Francis Picabia. From the early 1950s, Vardánega began working with acrylic glass and producing structures using overlapping wires to explore the relationship between light, color, movement, and space. Soon after, Vardánega created his first kinetic works which produced abstract patterns through lighting, reflections, and shadows by moving and rotating at irregular intervals. In 1959, he moved to Paris where he met Martha Boto, an Argentinian artist who later became his partner. Together, they coined the term 'chromocinetism'. Between 1960 and 1968, Vardánega was a member of the GRAV group (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel) along with François Morellet, Julio Le Parc, Francisco Sobrino, Jean Pierre Yvaral, and Horacio Garcia Rossi.