Matilde Pérez

Matilde Pérez Cerda (December 7, 1916 - October 1, 2014) was a Chilean kinetic artist, painter, sculptor and visual artist.^[1] She is regarded as a pioneer of modern and kinetic art in Chile.^[1][2] Her best known public pieces include Túnel Cinético (Kinetic Tunnel) in 1970, and "el Friso", which was originally constructed at the Centro Comercial Apumanque in 1982, but is now located at the University of Talca.^[1]

She was born in Santiago, Chile, on December 7, 1916. Pérez became interested in art while growing up in Chile. She moved to Paris, France, during the early 1960s, where she became interested in kinetic art, which focuses on movement, including the work of Victor Vasarely.^[1][2][3] She joined the movement and became a kinetic artist herself.^[3]

Perez opened more than fifty art shows worldwide during the 2000s and 2010s.^[3] In 2012, her retrospective exhibition opened at Pinta, the largest annual Latin American art show in London, when she was 95-years old.^[3] She was still creating new artistic works at the time and expressed no interest in retiring from her work.^[3] The BBC called her "one of the most widely acclaimed women in the international art world."^[3] In an interview with BBC Mundo, she was quoted, "One changes if you're bored. If you're not bored you don't change."^[3] Her last major exhibition, "Matilde X Matilde, Espacio móvil," featuring previously unpublished sketches and other materials, was held in 2013.^[1]

Matilde Pérez died from cardiac arrest in Santiago, Chile, on October 1, 2014, at the age of 97.^[1] Her funeral was held at the Iglesia San Patricio in Las Condes with burial at Parque del Recuerdo in Huechuraba.^[1]

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