Unit X - Week 2

Optical Art or 'Op Art' as it is commenly refered to is a term used to describe paintings or sculptures that create the illusion or movement through their use of optical effects. Brought to the public eye in the late 1950's early 1960's, it was leading figures Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarley
who paved the way for Op Artists across the world.

With its strong use of pattern and colour, the veiwer feels a disorienation upon viewing the work, causing them to question what it is they are actually looking at.

This is a concept that has been playing on my mind quite heavily over the past few weeks. The idea that a peice can be viewed in several different ways is intriguing to me and i am keen to look into ways that i can create deceptive, mind scrambling pieces so to speak.

The above piece, found online (artsist unknow) shows Optical Art in its most simple form. The squares are placed inside sqaures of similar colours to give the feeling of movement and presepctive. Once a square of a completely different colour is inserted the viewer finds the overall piece difficult to look at, this is what is called an optical illusion.

Try it yourself, look at the first 4 squares on the top row and time how long you can keep your focus without feeling the need to look away to a different one.

The above piece by artists Victor Vaserley is en example of how, when sqaures of different size are placed within one another at an angle the illusion of perspective is created. The clever use of colour also lends itself well to adding a feeling of depth and space to the work.

Over the coming weeks i am going to attempt to create my own optical art style pieces, using colours found in arcitecture as a starting point. Although the colours used in these two artists work are strong and vivid, i feel that my work would benefit more from a controlled, precise pallette.