1920 - 2012
Edgar Negret believed that mechanical forms free of function acquired a magical quality; his 1957 series “Aparatos Mágicos” (“Magical Apparatuses”) comprised mechanical items that had no specific purpose, and would come to be the defining representation of his practice. He was also known for combining images of industrial structures with those observed from nature in his geometric abstract sculptures.
Early in his career, he met Spanish sculptor Jorge de Oteiza, who was a major influence in his work. Negret began to work with metal, his most commonly used medium, while studying in New York’s Clay Club Center (today the Sculpture Center); in the same period he met Louise Nevelson and Ellsworth Kelly, who became major influences on his practice.
