Op Art
Op art, also known as optical art, is a
genre of visual art, especially painting,
that makes use of optical illusions. Op
art is also known as geometric
abstraction and hard-edge
abstraction, although the preferred
term for it is perceptual abstraction.
Bridget Riley, Movement in Squares,
1961. OP ART
"Optical Art is a method of painting
concerning the interaction between
illusion and picture plane, between
understanding and seeing.“ Op art
works are abstract, with many of the
better known pieces made in only black
and white. When the viewer looks at
them, the impression is given of
movement, hidden images, flashing and
vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of
swelling or warping.
Bridget Riley, Movement in Squares, 1961. OP ART
An optical illusion by Hungarian-born artist Victor Vasarely
Op Art is derived from the
constructivist practices of the
Bauhaus. This German school,
founded by Walter Gropius,
stressed the relationship of form
and function within a framework
of analysis and rationality.
Students were taught to focus on
the overall design, or entire
composition, in order to present
unified works. When the
Bauhaus was forced to close in
1933, many of its instructors fled
to the United States where the
movement took root in Chicago,
where Anni and Josef Albers
would come to teach.
Bridget Riley,
Cataract 3, 1967.
OP ART
Bridget Riley,
Arrest 1, 1965.
OP ART
Jenny Holzer
As a graduate of Ohio University, the main focus of Jenny Holzer has been on the
investigation of ways to disseminate ideas within public space. Since the late
seventies, she has been working in the street and in public buildings, using media
such as, LCD displays (e.g., in Times Square, New York) posters and stickers
(applied to such urban elements as telephone booths or parking meters), these
artworks art intended to stimulate awareness of our social conditioning as
conveyed by the very landscape in which we may be confronted by them."
EXPRESSING ANGER IS NECESSARY
LABOR IS A LIFE-DESTROYING ACTIVITY
DECENCY IS A RELATIVE THING
LEISURE TIME IS A GIGANTIC SMOKE SCREEN
IDEALS ARE REPLACED BY CONVENTIONAL GOALS AT A CERTAIN AGE
FEAR IS THE GREATEST INCAPACITATOR
THE WORLD OPERATES ACCORDING TO DISCOVERABLE LAWS
REVOLUTION BEGINS WITH CHANGES IN THE INDIVIDUAL
DISGUST IS THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO MOST SITUATIONS
IT IS MAN'S FATE TO OUTSMART HIMSELF
IT'S VITAL TO LIVE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE
MONEY CREATES TASTE
MOSTLY YOU SHOULD MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
OLD FRIENDS ARE BETTER LEFT IN THE PAST
YOUR OLDEST FEARS ARE THE WORST ONES
Earthworks
Land Art, Earthworks or Earth
Art is an art movement which
emerged in America in the late
1960s and early 1970s, in which
landscape and the work of art are
inextricably linked. Sculptures
are not placed in the landscape,
rather the landscape is the very
means of their creation. The
works frequently exist in the
open, located well away from
civilization, left to change and
erosion under natural conditions.
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970.
EARTHWORKS
Robert Smithson, 1969.
Unidentified,
Marree Man
(Stuart’s Giant)
Discover June 26, 1998
EARTHWORKS
Andy Goldsworthy
Walter De Maria, The Lightning Field, 1977. EARTHWORKS
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. EARTHWORKS
Four cast concrete, 18 ft. tunnels with open ends aligned with the points on the
horizon where the sun rises and sets at the winter and summer solstices.
Penetrating the tunnels are holes with diameters of 7 to 10 inches in the patterns
of the four constellations of; Capricorn, Draco, Columbia and Perseus.
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. EARTHWORKS