Although Cruz-Diez’s career was spent between Caracas and Paris, the political unrest and development in Venezuela directly affected his career. Venezuela existed under dictatorship for decades, with Juan Vincente Gomez from 1908 until his death in 1935. His rule influenced the academic art institutions, with little room for growth of the Venezuelan avant-garde. His successor, Eleazar Lopez Contreras changed the artistic climate by supporting study of artists such as Cezanne and other European Modernist painters.

After World War II several Venezuelan artists were able to study abroad, often in Paris. At the same the culture began to change because of industrialization and urbanization, which was directly tied to Venezuela’s exportation of oil. The new challenges faced by the development of modernity presented a receptive audience for Cruz-Diez, which allowed for a break in the traditional artists of Venezuela. The new cultural climate, which was receptive to the Kinetic Artist, was directly linked to the new technological advancements represented by the Kinetic artists. During 1948-1958 Venezuela existed under a military rule – and the Venezuelan Kinetic artists were often associated with elite social group because they were embraced by the government and supported and commissioned by industry and corporations. Cruz-Diez’s Op Art became popular with the political elite, often because the art lacked any political message.

Cruz-Diez has consistently worked through his career focusing solely on color, line and (viewer) perception. His visual style can be consistently identified throughout his work spanning his entire career. His work contains an element in which the viewer actively participates in viewing the work because the color changes and presents a sensation of movement as the relative position of the viewer changes. Cruz-Diez uses the moiré effect to produce this sensation of motion by his particular composition of lines. Because the image of his work changes as the viewer changes locations, he refers to this changing effect of the image as “vibrations.”

In 1959 Cruz-Diez started working in radiation of color, essentially colored light – which is a form of wavelengths, and abandoned paint as a medium. Cruz-Diez often referred to environment and events and part the experience of viewing his art. Because he was working with light and perception, his environment most likely needed to be controlled. Since the perception of the piece changes with the viewer movement, the individual images presented were considered events. Interesting enough these were terms used by the Fluxus group, who were also internationally based, and working around the same time, the late fifties and early sixties.

Throughout his career Cruz-Diez has focused on four types of self-defined op art Categories: Physichoromies, Choromointerferences, Chromosaturations, and Transchromies. All of his color-based experiments focus on variations of the observer’s position in relation to the work, the light directed at the work, and the relationship between the colors presented. Of the above mentions, seemingly, the most popular and possibly most archival is the Physichromie, which are all entitled “Physchromie” with a number listed after to indicate its uniqueness. He also created sensory de-conditioning rooms, which provided an experience that included visual, sound and tactile experience, a total phrenological experience.

Cruz-Diez is often associated with the Kinetic Art Movement, which relies on movement, particularly that of the object. As an Op or Operational Artist, Cruz-Diez relies on the movement of the viewer rather than the movement of the art object itself. The Op Movement stems directly from the Kinetic Movement, and is often considered a part of the Kinetic Movement as well.

Cruz-Diez has been consistent throughout his career in pursuing his interest in colour, and presenting his formal sensibility. His work presents geometric abstracted forms with a strong emphasis on colour, to create a visual experience. Because of Cruz-Diez’s attention to colour, line and space (environment), his work has significant form, as defined by Clive Bell.

Cruz-Diez breaks down color and form to their elemental qualities, and engages the viewer on an emotional level without the use of naturalistic imagery. Bell defined aesthetic emotion as a unique response to the viewer’s experience while engaging with a work of art. Cruz-Diez proactively engages the viewer in this experience by the constantly changing line and color.

On December 17, 1997, the Carlos Cruz-Diez Print and Design Museum in Caracas, Venezuela, opened to the public. The museum offers education and resources to the general public to expand artistic audiences, while supporting contemporary Venezuelan artists. The museum will strive to create a, “graphic image of the country,” Carlos-Cruz Diez serves as founder and president.