Julio Le Parc, through his son Yamil

Julio Le Parc is 96 years old and still lives in Cachan, just a few kilometers from downtown Paris, where he continues to work in his studio. With the same restless and playful spirit that led him to challenge the boundaries of color and light, creating monumental works that invite interaction and reflection, he now incorporates advanced digital tools, such as artificial intelligence, to expand the possibilities of perception and participation in contemporary art.

In 2019, during the national tribute organized by his son Yamil, he created his first mapping on the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, using artificial intelligence and cloud technologies to create an interactive visual experience.

Julio Le Parc and His Childhood in Mendoza

Far from all of this, his childhood in the rural area of Palmira, Mendoza, seems distant. However, Le Parc occasionally recalls the intensity that those early years spent in this railway town east of the capital city left on his essence.

"Here they stayed, from here I took them with me, they always accompany me: those intense years of my childhood," wrote the artist when the Julio Le Parc Cultural Center in the province was inaugurated.

"Where one comes from, one is. Here, this, my Mendoza, shaped my childhood, imprinted the essence of my personality on me," Julio Le Parc

Although the artist no longer gives interviews, we were able to talk about his provincial memories through Yamil, his son and right-hand man, also the curator of his work.

How does Julio remember his early childhood years in Palmira, and how did they influence his work?

"My father could talk for hours about that entire period. In Mendoza, he went to primary school, and thanks to 'a sweet teacher from Palmira' (as he described her), who advised his mother to guide him towards drawing, they moved to Buenos Aires in 1942, where he could develop the first stage of his career."

He has mentioned that it was there that he learned the meaning of the word 'fraternity,' which was essential in the railway association. But there is something deeper in his memories, and that is the joy and freedom he experienced during that stage of his life.

"The grapes, the irrigation canals, Don Chicho the grocer, my sister and my brother, the flowered squares, the invented toys were part of my world. For me, Mendoza was the center and the beginning of everything," Julio describes in one of his texts about Mendoza.

"For me, Mendoza was the center and the beginning of everything," Julio Le Parc

How did these early experiences shape Julio Le Parc's creativity?

In Palmira, he was already drawing, making portraits, and illustrating maps. From a young age, he worked in various jobs, delivering newspapers or as an apprentice repairing bicycles, but the observation of his teacher in primary school about his talent for drawing was decisive.

Is there a connection between the powerful image of the mountains, their constant light changes, and Le Parc's kinetic art? Without a doubt, Mendoza was influential, especially the light of Mendoza, in his work. My father has mentioned on other occasions that the mountain range "filled him with changing images as the clouds and the sun moved."

"The light of Mendoza was very influential in his work," Yamil Le Parc

Julio Le Parc himself has said in various interviews that "the color variations in the reflection of the Mendoza River and the changing light at sunset on the mountain were some of the first images that caught his attention."

"Sometimes, the sun that sets behind the workshop, which has pointed roofs, brings me a wave of images of the same sun setting behind the Andes Mountain Range, and the changes that occur as the sun goes down. It's the same thing that happened when I was a child," he once said to the newspaper Los Andes.

This connection with the environment, along with the curiosity that always accompanied him, is the thread that connects his past with his current creative practice. "Nature was there, it was the one who observed us because it was so much bigger than us, who were small." Thus, each memory, each moment of shared happiness, transformed into color and form in his art.

Julio Le Parc's Present: New Technologies and Optical Art

Today, Le Parc continues to draw in his studio, and according to what Yamil conveys to us, "the only thing that has changed is the rhythm and intensity of his travels, but his work continues forward, incorporating new technologies and materials."

In his studio, through artificial intelligence, the gouaches from 1959 come to life, and sculptures created in 1970 acquire movement, offering greater possibilities for his interest in expanding the perception and participation of the public in contemporary art.

Among his most recent exhibitions is 'The Discovery of Perception' at the Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena (Italy), which will be on display until March 2025. It includes 80 works spanning from 1958 to 2024, highlighting his focus on physical and virtual movement. Additionally, one of his latest creations, the mobile "Sol" (Sun), a tribute to the sun on our flag, has illuminated the new departure terminal at Ezeiza since May 2024.

Julio Le Parc's career is an intense and long journey full of discoveries that continues to evolve and, what’s best, continues to surprise us.