Posts tagged: op art

---

Bridget Riley is a British painter and printmaker known for being a leading figure in the ‘op art’ movement in the 1960s – a practice that uses geometrical forms, patterns and shapes to create optical illusions or effects.

She began her practice painting figurative and landscape work, before moving into neo-impressionism and pointillism. These approaches prioritised elements of light, colour and form, often applying complementary or contrasting colours next to each other to test out the subsequent visual effects.

Riley’s op-art work pushed these practices to new limits – inducing a variety of bodily sensations in viewers from dizziness to falling or floating. In this way, they serve to remind us of the physical act of looking.

Many of her works are inspired by the shifting reflections of sunlight on water. She grew up in a disused watermill turned family home, surrounded by rivers, canals and ponds ‘shining, sparkling, glittering, moving, flowing’ – as well as spending time living in Cornwall, exploring the changing qualities of the sea and sky.

Riley has exhibited extensively internationally, and her works are held in numerous public collections including the Arts Council Collection, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

---

---

The images above are close-up shots of Riley’s work.

---

---

---

Photographs on this page courtesy of Sam Parker, UoS Art Collection Team Assistant

---

---