Why Bridget Riley
I am mesmerized by Bridget Riley’s artwork. Although, I came of age during the time of OpArt, I was clueless about who the leaders of the genre were. Then, much, much later in life I was wandering in a museum and stumbled upon one of Riley’s paintings. WOW! No idea which of her pieces it was or even the museum. I just knew I needed to learn more about her and work out how she achieves what she achieves.
Achieving Shimmer
Just as I study Bridget Riley, to see how she does what she does, she began moving from her classical art training to her own OpArt work by studying Seurat. Seurat, like the impressionists and the artists who preceded them found ways to capture light and shadow. Whether the art image is representational or abstract, capturing light or the essence of light is the goal. I think of it as achieving shimmer.
I am linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Fridays.
I can see why you were mesmerized. Stunning!
Several years after stumbling across my first Bridget Riley piece, I discovered one in the MFA. This time I knew it was Riley’s work without having to read the wall description. What made this piece so memorable was watching a primary student walking by it, then return and walking back and forth. He called out to his fellow students and teachers, “Look it is moving!” He was so excited.
Your work in progress fascinates me, but Cataract 3 makes my eyes dance and not in a good way! While I am intrigued by the movement in it, I am sure if I looked at it for a longer time I would be motion sick!
Just not cut out to be an artist! (I love Seurat & the post-impressionists, however.)
Fortunately, Riley’s work is fairly large. I’m guessing the work I’ve seen is at least 50″ on any side. Think of the effect as gentle rolling versus the roiling of an ocean during a storm. What I found intriguing, learning about Seurat as a prime influence for Riley’s work, is what a leap she took from his iconic style to her own.
I had to chuckle when I saw what you’re working on. Though definitely with an intentional colour-way…have you been channelling a bit of Bonnie Hunter this week? 😉 (see what she’s been doing with what she calls “bonus triangles” — triangles cut off Flying Geese blocks and the like — https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2021/04/and-on-to-next.html) I want to do what she’s been doing with my baskets of those things…but I’ll remain glued to your blog to see what *you’re* doing too!
No surprise, it was a string pieced quilt I spied on Pintrest that inspired my current project. I love using traditional blocks and/or techniques, but in non-traditional ways. Like Bonnie and I suspect anyone who creates with fabric, I have a mountain of scraps. I even have them sorted by color. Perhaps I should gift mine to Bonnie. She could put them to good use and I would have more shelf space.