The late artist, who passed away earlier this year, collaborated with Hublot on a new watch.

Venezuelan op artist Carlos Cruz-Diez may have passed away earlier this year, but his legacy lives on. His prolific oeuvre alone has a lasting effect, but the world now has a chance to experience one last new work via an extraordinary project that debuted on Thursday night at <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/art-basel-miami-beach-events-2019">Art Basel Miami Beach</a>.

Cruz-Diez, who has earned a reputation as one of the twentieth century&rsquo;s greatest color theorists and artistic innovators, often said, &ldquo;Color is light, time, and space. Color is not in the past;&nbsp;it is a continuous present.&rdquo; This sentiment deeply influenced the new work he created, in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/tags/collaboration">collaboration</a> with none other than luxury watchmaker Hublot.

511.NX.8900.VR.CZD19-FD-HR-W.jpg

511.NX.8900.VR.CZD19-SD-HR-W.jpg

At an industrial space last Thursday, some guests took in a number of Cruz-Diez&rsquo;s works as they hung on the walls, while&nbsp;others marveled at the lights as they cast multi-colored stripes&nbsp;reminiscent of the artist&rsquo;s kinetic <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/categories/art">artworks</a>&nbsp;across the room. But while both of these were incredibly captivating, most attendees waited in anticipation for the unveiling of the new Hublot watch. Finally, guests got a&nbsp;glimpse at&nbsp;the Classic Fusion timepiece, whose face and strap feature Cruz-Diez&rsquo;s iconic stripes&nbsp;in green, blue, and black. Available in two case sizes&nbsp;and three different metals&mdash;titanium, gold, and ceramic&mdash;the new collaboration has intended to create&nbsp;&ldquo;a working piece of art that can be worn on the wrist,&rdquo; shared Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe.

Like most works in Op Art (short for optical art), things are not always as they seem, as Cruz-Diez&rsquo;s son Carlitos Cruz&nbsp;demonstrated. As the watch&#39;s different hands move, so do the stripes, to the point that they are no longer stripes at all.&nbsp;

The watch&rsquo;s dial features two levels, both in rich <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/pantone-2020-color-of-the-year-classic-blue-beauty">Pantone</a> hues. The hour hand sits on the top and the minute hand is on the bottom, and both drive a transparent disc featuring black lines to rotate. It is through this technology that the colors evolve every second throughout the 24-hour day.

Carlos Cruz-Diez in his workshop, Paris, France, 2017-Photo  Atelier Cruz-Diez Paris Lisa Preud homme.JPG

While Art Basel is known for its <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/save-the-date/art-basel-miami-celebrity-photos-2019">fashion-meets-art parties</a>, Hublot may have raised the bar even higher. In one week alone, the luxury watchmaker launched the new Cruz-Diez watch and introduced another piece in collaboration with American artist <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/hublot-launches-new-watch-with-shepard-fairey">Shepard Fairey</a> (the brand ambassador is known for his viral &quot;Hope&quot;&nbsp;portrait of President Obama). As if that alone wasn&rsquo;t enough, the brand also unveiled <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/art-basel-miami-beach-events-2019">a new piece of wall art by Fairey</a>&nbsp;in Miami&#39;s Design District&nbsp;and f&ecirc;ted the re-opening of its boutique, the Hublot Galerie. All of the week&rsquo;s festivities were dubbed &quot;Hublot Loves Art,&quot; and after this year&#39;s Art Basel Miami Beach, one could easily see how that statement rings true.

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See How Op Artist Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Last Work Defies the Test of Time

See How Op Artist Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Last Work Defies the Test of Time

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