Jesus Rafael Soto was born in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela in 1923 but developed his career in Paris where he became a pioneer of the Kinetic Art movement. He worked the mediums of painting, relief and installation although not in a conventional manner, which allowed him to represent vibration, movement, light, space and time. His extensive body of work consists of repetitions and variations of abstract systems more recognisable through the series of fine metallic constructions and glued elements on monochromatic striped backgrounds entitled Vibraciones and the iconic structures with fine and curved wires entitled Escrituras produced since 1959 and 1963 respectively. Soto was part of the group of Venezuelan and Argentine artists who settled in Paris in the 1950´s and were at the forefront of the kinetic movement through their association with the Denise Rene gallery, which began their support with the 1950 exhibition Le Mouvement. His work has been acquired by MoMa, MCNRS, Tate, Centre Georges Pompidou and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. Soto died in Paris in 2005 aged 82.