Introduction

In his early days, Yvaral’s pseudonym was Yves Aral, an anagram of Vasarely. In the “Petit Memento des Arts Cinétiques”, written by Pontus Hulten in 1955, Yvaral is mentioned under this name. Shortly afterwards, he switched to Yvaral, but remained in Vasarely’s stylistic tradition. In the 1955-1960 period, he was not alone, since Le Parc, Agam, Tinguely, Demarco and many others all claimed to be by the master of optical art. So it’s not a question of father-son dependence, but of a whole generation seeking to move beyond Vasarely’s work.

Black and White research
1958-1959

Yvaral’s starting point was Vasarely’s optical research, but he opposed it by seeking to systematize the data involved. Even before the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, Yvaral produced a series of black-and-white paintings from which all subjective accident was excluded. A system presides over the elaboration of the surface, where each element maintains the same logical relationship with the whole. Progressions and permutations are developed with mathematical rigor.