Op Art




Bridget Riley
Current ,1964

Photograph of Bridget Riley in front of one of her paintings

Abstract Expressionism focused on stripping all extra-artistic meanings from artworks and reducing them to their technical essentials.

The most intense investigation of perception occurred in "optical art", popularly known as Op art, a kind of non-objective art that used precisely structured patterns of lines and colours to affect visual perception. Paintings such as Current by British artist Bridget Riley , consists of tightly spaced, parallel, curved lines, that produce an effect of fluctuating motion. As with many Op works, staring at the pattern may give the viewer discomfort.