"Bridget Riley’s art is an exploration of the possibilities of vision."
Whilst at The Walker (Liverpool) yesterday, we visited 'Flashback' - the reason for our little adventure. Bridget Riley's retrospective exhibition displayed eight large scale, vibrant and distinctive paintings; but for me the most captivating and arresting were the tiny framed pencil/gouache studies on graph and tracing paper. They demonstrate the trials behind her work and indicate how precise the requirements are to achieve the extraordinary sensations of movement. Riley's methodical approach also intrigues me as a visual because it is something raw and unpolished.
Riley said of her trials (example above) that it allows
"me to trust the eye at the end of my pencil."
The development and elaboration of these results culminates colour and shape, light and space, energy and rhythm to allow the viewer to experience what looking feels like and I find this a really interesting concept.
Bridget, largely acclaimed for her black and white paintings, also draws/paints with colour. She explains "You can never see colour by itself, it is always affected by other colour." Though the colour projects were large and perhaps more complex, I don't feel that they allowed me to experience the movement in the same way as the black and white pieces. Of the eight there was perhaps only one colour canvas that did have this affect on me, but even still, I did not enjoy it. I think I prefer the subtlety as they are already quite intense compositions.
'Ecclesia' 1985
'Movement In Squares' 1961
A piece that she credits as her breakthrough into abstraction.
The fact that a painting has the ability to sway our
optics in such a way is intriguing and cleverly demonstrates
just how precise the human eye is.
Of the larger scaler pieces this was my favourite.
Bridget Riley in her studio, 1983.
Bridget Riley in her studio, 1983
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