PROVENANCE
The Vasarely Center, New York
Private Collection, Toronto
International Art, Ritchie's, June 10, 2009, lot 2249
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Victor Vasarely & Marcel Joray, Vasarely: Plastic Arts of the 20th Century, 1965, reproduced page 156

Vasarely,one of the leading figures of Op Art, championed the democratization of art, advocating for its accessibility and reproducibility. In an age of globalization, he envisioned a universal language conveyed through visual media, what he called “Planetary Folklore.”

Central to this approach was his “alphabet plastique,” a system of geometric shapes that could be endlessly varied, each one serving as a distinct unit of meaning. Developed in the 1960s, this method transforms these basic units into complex, cohesive compositions that resonate with kinetic energy and that speak in a universal language.

In this 1981 paper collage, these principles are vividly at work. Vasarely described his “form-color” language as “composed of two constants: the kernel ‘form’ and its complement that surrounds it: the square ‘background’. Apart from its ‘biform’ aspect, the Unity necessarily possesses a ‘bicolor’ aspect which is harmonious or contrasting at the same time as positive-negative.” In Mekka, the arrangement of cutout circles and squares—each comprising a “bicolor” unit of his plastic alphabet—creates a luminous gradient that pulses with vitality, reinforcing Vasarely’s universalizing vision.

This work will be included in the upcoming Catalogue Raisonné currently being compiled by the Fondation Vasarely.

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