I find this image with its vacant grid-like construction mesmerising. Somehow Torres-García effortlessly captures the timeless elegance of Inca stonework or sophisticated terracing while also referencing the modern city; never has empty space felt so busy.

The precursor to her famous ‘Bichos’ series (1960-62) of articulated sculptures, this work captures the moment Clark begins to move painting from the wall and transform it into sculpture. Using the strength and flexibility of aluminium this painting appears, like the proverbial butterfly exiting the cocoon, metamorphosed.

The pronounced grain of this woodcut contrasts with the delicate incised geometric lines to create an image that appears almost like a landscape. The beautiful texture is incredibly seductive whilst referencing wood (from which Brazil takes its name) that connects popular art and indigenous culture as well as concrete which assumes the texture of wood in the process of construction.

Soto’s Nylon Cube defies imagination. It is both transparent and opaque; one can glimpse people and other works through it and yet at other times it appears solid. Like much of his work the sculpture responds to your presence, coming alive as you walk towards it and past it defying description in the process.

Gego is known for her ethereal sculptures that gently float in the gallery casting ever changing shadows. Yet she did not think of her work as sculptures but rather as three dimensional drawings. The delicate lines of this drawing, some broken, others enmeshed, appear alive emphasising the absence of distinction she made between both disciplines.

Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection is in The Sackler Wing of Galleries at the RA until 28 September 2014.

Adrian Locke is the co-curator of Radical Geometry at the RA.