Elias Crespin (born 1965) is a Venezuelan
kinetic artist. Crespin is known for his moving, motorized sculptures, made of series of suspended geometric elements that slowly evolve and unfold in the air. He lives in
Paris.
Career
L'Onde du Midi
In 2019 he was commissioned by
Jean-Luc Martinez, director of the
Louvre Museum, Paris, to create a sculpture. This followed commissions to
Georges Braque,
Anselm Kiefer,
Cy Twombly, and
François Morellet. In January 2020, L'Onde du Midi was inaugurated, hovering over 19th century stairs on the North side of the
Louvre Colonnade. The work is a succession of 128 aluminium tubes, painted blue, that undulates from order to chaos following an algorithmic choreography.[1][2][3][4][5]
He started his career as an engineer and informatician. In 2000, he began experimenting with
algorithms and
motors to create "electrokinetic" sculptures. These led to his first piece, Malla electrocinética, in 2002.[6][7]
Negative Space. Trajectories of Sculpture in the 20th and 21st Centuries, under the direction of
Peter Weiermair,
ZKM Center for Arts and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2021 ISBN 9780262044868, 0262044862
Artistes & Robots, under the direction of
Laurence Bertrand Dorléac and Jérôme Neutres, Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais, Paris, France, 2018 ISBN 9782711871094, 2711871096
The Urge to create Visions...1929-2017, Center of Polish Sculpture, Radom, Poland, 2017
De Nature en Sculpture, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France, 2017
Slow Motion, Maison de l’Amérique Latine / Editions Hermann, Paris, France, 2017
Geometrische Choreographien, Das Kleine Museum : Weissenstadt, Germany, 2015
Elias Crespin, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France, 2014
Elias Crespin. Temps suspendu, Galerie de la Marine, Nice, France, 2014
Elias Crespin. Parallels, Cecilia de Torres, Ltd., New York, NY, USA, 2012
Elias Crespin. Hiperficies, Ars Longa, Paris, France, 2010
Dynamo. Un siècle de mouvement et lumière dans l'art. 1913-2013, under the direction of
Serge Lemoine, RMN, Paris, France, 2013 ISBN 9782711860500, 2711860507