OP ART?

THAT'S WHAT

'Twas made to trick the eye, my friend. Made to trick the eye.

SO WHEN DID THIS WEIRD STUFF COME IN?

BACK IN THE OLD TIMES

1964

You can go thank Michael-Eugene Chevreul, a French chemist, who studied complimentary colors and how they trick the eye.

He told this to George Seurat, inventor of pointillism, who then created (drum roll)..... Op Art!

SO HOW DOES THIS JUNK WORK?

Op Art tends to focus on space and shape to do its one mission: confuse the mess out of you.

OP ARTISTS

• Victor Vasarely
• Bridget Riley
• Josef Albers
• Richard Allen

So WHY would artists want to create stuff that gives people headaches?

Op art is intended to trick the eye and make it see movement instead of just plain old shapes.

THEY WANT TO MAKE THIS

BECOME THIS

SO WHO'S BRIDGET RILEY?

BRIDGET RILEY

• April 24, 1931
• Still living
• Born in Norwood, England
• Royal College of Art

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• Her father was a printer
• Had a huge mental breakdown in her twenties
• Started Op art in her thirties
• Started using color in '67

MOVEMENT IN SQUARES

• 1961
• Tempera on board- 122 x 122 cm
• Hayward Gallery

KISS

• 1961
• Acrylic on linen122x122 cm
• MoMA

HESITATE

• 1964
• Emulsion on board- 115.5 x 116 cm
• Tate Gallery

WHO'S THAT?

VICTOR VASARELY

• April 9, 1908-March 15, 1997
• Born in Pécs, Hungary
• Podolini-Volkman Academy

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• Is the "grandfather" of Op Art
• Originally studied medicine
• Was a graphic designer

VONAL-STRI

• 1975
• Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm
• Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemperary Art

VEGA-NOR

• 1969
• Acrylic on canvas- 200 x 200 cm
• Albright-Knox Art Gallery

KEPLE-GESTALT

• 1968
• Acrylic on canvas- 160 x 160 cm
• Josef Alders Museum

So how are you supposed to critique it? It looks complicated.

Well, let's try to critique Victor Vasarely's Vonal-Stri.

DESCRIBE

DESCRIBE

• Acrylic on canvas
• 200 x 200 cm
• Shape, color, form, value

I see a corridor, a long one, stretching as far as it can into the endless depths of time and space, unwilling to stop, but simply driving you insane.

ANALYZE

The arrangement of the shapes creates a movement through what looks like a corridor.

The multiple colors along the walls must be used to create variety.

INTERPRET

I believe that someone is walking along in a corridor that never ends. This creates a depressed feeling, having to walk in this horrid place till you starve.

JUDGE

I like this painting because of the illusion created.

This work relies mainly on composition. As far as it goes, Vasarely did a good job by using ordinary shapes to create movement.