Vibrations métalliques 1969

This is Vibrations métalliques by Jesus Rafael Soto, and it makes me think about the artist as a kind of conductor, coaxing rhythm out of static materials. Look at the surface; a regimented series of parallel lines are contrasted by these almost unruly diagonals. What a challenge Soto set for himself, this careful push-pull between order and chaos! I imagine him, maybe frustrated, maybe exhilarated, as he adds each element. There's an intense kind of patience involved in creating something that looks so precarious, so fleeting. Soto is in conversation with artists like Josef Albers, who explored the way colours behave when set alongside one another. But where Albers is all cool restraint, Soto has a chaotic energy. He's after something more elusive. He wants to make the air vibrate.