Déplacement optique D, 1969

Argentine artist Martha Boto is best known for her innovative kinetic and optical art. She studied art in Buenos-Aires at the National Academy of Fine Arts and was one of the founder members of the Non-Figurative Argentine Artist Group. She was the first artist from her country ever to work in kinetic art. Martha Boto first began to construct moving artworks in the form of suspended mobiles made with Plexiglas. Her work in this area played a big part in the development of kinetic and optical art. She went on to explore the qualities of various reflective and light absorbing materials, including stainless steel and aluminum, which she used to create works involving movement, illumination, color and the distortion of light. After Boto moved to Paris in 1959 with her partner, the artist Gregorio Verdanega, her work was part of an international exhibition of Constructive Abstract Art. She continued to develop movement in her art and in 1964 Martha Boto created the first ever kinetic light-boxes by using electrical mechanisms to project light onto moving surfaces. Light played an increasing role in her art, by transforming objects through reflections from multiple mirrors and shiny metal surfaces placed at different angles. Her pieces have appeared in several major exhibitions in France and Argentina. Two years after her death in Paris, a retrospective show in Houston was dedicated to the works of Martha Boto and her partner.