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Optical Art

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Op ArtOp Art can be traced back to the Bauhaus style of

geometric shapes

You can also see the influence of the Kinetic

movement in Op Art

Etudes Bauhaus C, 1929

Victor Vasarely

Cyclograveur, 1929

Jean TinguelyBicycle wheel, 1913

Marcel Duchamp

What is Op Art?

• Op Art or Optical Art are abstract pieces

• Highly contrasting, sometimes colour but more often painted in

black and white

• When looked at the works give the illusion of movement

• The viewer is dazzled, sees flashing, vibration, swelling,

warping and hidden images

Untitled Diagonal Curve, 1966

Bridget Riley

Victor Vasarely - Hungarian painter,1906-97

• Studied medicine for two years

• Studied at the Muhely Academy - the Bauhaus equivalent in Budapest, Hungary

• His studies in medicine left him with a strong sense of scientific method obvious in his paintings

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Bridget Riley - English painter, 1931 -

• Studied painting at Goldsmiths and the Royal College of Art

• Taught Art at several schools and colleges

• Changed style dramatically before developing Op art in the mid 1960’s

Riley was inspired by the pointillist technique of Seurat

Riley turned to abstraction around 1960

Her work is said to induce feelings of seasickness

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“High-voltage” - is how the British painter Bridget Riley describes

her work

From 1967 onwards Riley began to use more colour. It is the

positioning of the colour which produces the feeling of

movement. The colour groupings affected the spaces between

them to produce fleeting glimpses of other colours and the

illusion of movement.

Cataract III

1967

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• Riley’s works are large scale. Small colour studies are used to

plan the paintings, then they are scaled up and painted by

hand without the use of ruler or masking tape

• She has the help assistants because the pieces are so large

• She is still working today

Carlos Cruz-Diez - Venezuela, 1923-

Transchromie, 1965

Coloured, transparent strips which change

according to the movement of the viewer and

the intensity of the light

Physiocromie, 1959

layers of coloured screens

which trap light

Jim Lambie - 1964 - Glasgow

In 1999 Lambie created pieces influenced by Op Art

Zobop, 1999

Vinyl tape

The influence of Op Art on fashion

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Photorealism

Photorealism• Super realistic paintings and sculptures

• The results were almost photographic

• Artists worked from photographs closely copying

every detail

• Evolved from the work of Pop Art and a reaction to

Abstract Expressionism

• Although its centre was the United States, the

Photorealism movement was also strong in Europe

from the late 1960’s to the1970’s

• In Europe this type of art is known as Super-realism

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American Photorealist painters:

• Chuck Close, 1940 -

• Richard Estes, 1932 -

• Audrey Flack, 1931 -

• Charles Bell, 1935-95

• Ralph Goings, 1928 -

• Best known for his paintings of city scenes of New York

• He compiles his compositions from multiple source

photographs

• He often incorporates reflective surfaces, such as shop

windows and shiny cars

Richard Estes, 1932-

Telephone Booths, 1968 Times Square, 2004

• Suffers from Prosopagnosia (face blindness)

• Works in many different mediums

• Severely paralysed from a spinal artery collapse in the 1980’s

Georgia, 1985

pulp paper on CanvasBig Self-Portrait, 1967/8

Acrylic on canvas

Chuck Close, 1940-

Andres, 2006

Jacquard tapestry

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Mark, 2012

Felt stamp

Mark, 1978/9

Close repeats images in different mediums and styles

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Self-portrait, 2005/5

Flack began using photographs as material for her paintings as

far back as the early sixties

Her paintings tell stories through still-life’s and portraits

Audrey Flack, 1931-

Marilyn, 1977

His paintings and graphic prints are distinguished by the fact that the subject

matter is depicted in a scale as much as ten times life size, with colours

which are the clear and vibrant

Charles Bell, 1935-1995

“... It occurred to me that projecting and tracing the photograph instead

of copying it freehand would be even more shocking. To copy a

photograph literally was considered a bad thing to do. It went against all

of my art school training... some people were upset by what I was doing

and said ’it can't possibly be art'. That gave me encouragement in a

perverse way, because I was delighted to be doing something that was

really upsetting people... I was having a hell of a lot of fun..."

Ralph Goings,1928-

Donut, 1995