Rerun: Bridget Riley, Tightly Wound God of Op (orig. 01/30/08)

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Bridget Riley (b. 1931) is a well-known British artist celebrated since the mid-1960s for her distinctive, optically vibrant paintings. Along with Victor Vasarley, she is one the pioneers of the genre of art that later became known “Op Art.” She explores optical phenomena and juxtaposes color either by using a chromatic technique of identifiable hues or by selecting achromatic colors (black, white or gray). In doing so, her work appears to flicker, pulsate and move, encouraging the viewer’s visual tension. Riley’s vibrant optical pattern paintings, which she painted in the 1960s, were hugely popular and become a hallmark of the period. “The uncertainties of a drawn structure increase when it is composed of similar, repeated elements," Riley has said. "Because they are small and compacted, these elements begin to fuse while they are easy to separate when they are big.” In the mid-60s, Riley spent two years copying Seurat’s painting, Bridge of Courbevoie, to learn about his painting technique and his use of complementary colors. She describes the process as “being a revelation to her” with regard to color's secret relationship to the hues of black and white. Soon after, in 1966, Riley begins to use color as well as black and white to achieve new optical effects.

In the early 1960s, her works were said to induce sensations in viewers as varied as seasickness and sky diving. Works in this style comprised her first solo show in London in 1962 as well as numerous subsequent shows. Visually, these works relate to many concerns of the period: a perceived need for audience participation (this relates them to the Happenings, for which the period is famous), challenges to the notion of the mind-body duality which led some people to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs; concerns with a tension between a scientific future which might be very beneficial or might lead to a nuclear war; and fears about the loss of genuine individual experience in a Brave New World. In 1965, Riley exhibited in the New York City show, The Responsive Eye, the exhibition which first drew attention to so-called Op art. One of her paintings was reproduced on the cover of the show's catalogue, though Riley later became disillusioned with the movement, and expressed regret that her work was exploited for commercial purposes.







'When Samuel Beckett was a young name in the early Thirties and trying to find a basis from which he could develop, he wrote an essay known as Beckett/Proust in which he examined Proust's views of creative work; and he quotes Proust's artistic credo as declared in Time Regained - "the tasks and duties of a writer [not an artist, a writer] are those of a translator". This could also be said of a composer, a painter or anyone practising an artistic metier. An artist is someone with a text which he or she wants to decipher.

'Beckett interprets Proust as being convinced that such a text cannot be created or invented but only discovered within the artist himself, and that it is, as it were, almost a law of his own nature. It is his most precious possession, and, as Proust explains, the source of his innermost happiness. However, as can be seen from the practice of the great artists, although the text may be strong and durable and able to support a lifetime's work, it cannot be taken for granted and there is no guarantee of permanent possession.

'It may be mislaid or even lost, and retrieval is very difficult. It may lie dormant and be discovered late in life after a long struggle, as with Mondrian or Proust himself. Why it should be that some people have this sort of text while others do not, and what 'meaning' it has, is not something which lends itself to argument. Nor is it up to the artist to decide how important it is, or what value it has for other people. To ascertain this is perhaps beyond even the capacities of his own time.'

Audio: Five excerpts from a 1988 BBC interview with Bridget Riley








Intake (1964)


Blaze 1 (1962)


Blue (1968)


Hesitate (1963)


Cataract 3 (1967)


Fall (1964)


Ad Code 1 (1962)


Movement in Squares (1963)


Untitled (1966)


Loss (1964)





Jim Isermann


Peter Schuyff


Stoner Lounge


Christopher Wool


Op Art Handball


Peter Halley


Bridget Riley Breakdown


Youri Messen-Jaschin


Linda Besemer


Hestbak
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Bridget Riley speaks about her work




Bridget Riley Documentary, Pts. 1 - 3


Andrew Graham-Dixon on Bridget Riley


Bridget Riley in conversation with Michael Bracewell @ Frieze Art Fair




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p.s. Hey. If you're seeing this, I seem to be ensconced in this intended work-heavy hideaway, and so, instead of a proper p.s., I say hello and escort this revived post about the great Op artist Bridget Riley to you, which I hope you'll enjoy, at least until tomorrow when something else will show up, with or without my verbiage in tow. 'Til then ...