Vassilakis Takis (1925-2019), Bronze, Magnetic Evidence 1983, 1991

Bronze sculpture representing a section of a woman's bust revealing a breast decorated with nails and a needle fixed by a magnet on the back. Work signed intaglio at the bottom of the bronze on the front and stamp visible on the back. Certificate and box attached to the sculpture. Dated 1991. Very beautiful collector's item Very good condition. Dimensions: 32 x 43 x 25 cm A pioneer of kinetic art, Takis displayed his artistic talent after the end of the Second World War and was renowned for offering a different approach to kinetic art. A self-taught artist by conviction, he manages to create an indissoluble link between art and science by combining elements of nature and physics in his sculpture. In 1954, reaching Paris, he joined Brancusi's studio for a few months. For the next three years he traveled to live between Paris and London, these two cities becoming sources of inspiration for his first kinetic works. His first trip to the United States in 1961 was marked by his meeting with Marcel Duchamp who would later become a friend. In 1968, he moved to Massachusetts where he was a visiting scholar at the MIT University Center for Advanced Visual Studies. There he created a series of electromagnetic sculptures. In 1974, back in Paris, he began to create his Erotic sculptures. “The force of attraction is the denominator of magnetism and eroticism. In 1974, Takis depicted it riding in a series of bronzes made from casts” (Takis, Monographies, Erotique, p.203). His works adorn the permanent collections of the most important museums in the world such as the Georges Pompidou Center for Contemporary Art in Paris, the MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the De Menil Collection in Houston, the Tate Modern in London, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. In France, the Musée du Jeu de Paume, the Palais de Tokyo and the Fondation Maeght have organized major retrospective exhibitions dedicated to the artist. His work is also exhibited in the UNESCO gardens in Paris and La Défense, where the French government grants him the largest public space ever awarded to an artist in Parisian history, i.e. 3500m² for a “forest” of 49 Light Signals. He also participated twice in Documenta in Kassel, once at the Venice Biennale and in 1985 at the Paris Biennale, where he received first prize.