This work was “like my spinal column or my umbilical cord, uniting me to painting,” Sosa explained. Scattered pops of color interrupt the regularity of the black grid animating it with the playful movement suggested by the work’s title. At times, these contrasting hues prompt an optical flickering or afterimage. To Sosa, such retinal effects underscore vision as a dynamic physiological process. Thus, Visual Chess foreshadows her eventual decision to “come down from the wall” to engage with real space and bodies in the form of sculpture, performance, and installations.

Gallery label from

Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift, October 21, 2019–March 14, 2020

Provenance

1965 - 2006, The artist.
2006 - 2016, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, and Caracas, purchased from the artist.
2016, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as gift from Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

Medium Acrylic on wood
Dimensions 37 1/8 × 37 1/16 × 1 3/16" (94.3 × 94.2 × 3 cm)
Credit Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund in honor of Ariel Jiménez
Object number 869.2016
Department Painting & Sculpture

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