Luis Tomasello

Luis Tomasello, an Argentinian painter, was a prominent figure in Latin American Kinetic art.

Biography of Luis Tomasello

Luis Tomasello was born in 1915 in La Plata, Argentina. He initially worked with his father as a bricklayer, joiner, and painter. He attended evening drawing classes from 1929 to 1931 and studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón in Buenos Aires from 1932 to 1938. He continued his education at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Ernesto de la Cárcova from 1940 to 1944.

Before his first trip to Europe in 1951, Tomasello met painters Emilio Pettoruti and Carmelo Arden Quin, with whom he co-founded the Salón Arte-Nuevo in Buenos Aires in 1954.

He spent six months in Paris in 1951 before making it his permanent home in 1957. Tomasello exhibited extensively, including the landmark Op Art show "La Lumiere et le Mouvement" in 1967 in Paris. His works are part of numerous public and private collections, and he completed many large-scale public art commissions in Argentina, France, Mexico, and the United States.

The artist died in 2014.

Luis Tomasello's Art Style

Tomasello began as a Concrete artist, drawing inspiration from Mondrian. He began exploring abstract art in 1952 and developed an interest in kineticism in 1957.

After settling in Paris in 1957, he shifted to working in relief, moving away from the linear aspects of geometric abstraction and focusing instead on form and color effects. He started incorporating relief techniques in 1958.

Luis Tomasello's art is firmly abstract, distinguished by his innovative use of light. He creates light effects through reliefs arranged in regular patterns and painted in uniform white, with colors applied to the back or sides of the shapes. These colors reflect onto the surface of the typically square work, creating dynamic light interactions.

He developed a distinctive approach to Op art with his Atmospheres Chromoplastiques, featuring 3D relief patterns of cubes and pegs that project color and shadows onto a white surface.