When people saw Bridget’s black and white abstract paintings in the 1960s people were amazed. It is known as op art. Colours, shapes and patterns are put together to create an optical ollusion.
Riley was born in 1931 in London then moved to Cornwall because of WW2. In 1960 she went to Venice and was inspired by sculptures, she wanted to make paintings that had curves.
She began experimenting with colour by putting warm and cold colours together.
In 1961 she and her partner bought a derelict farm in France which they tranformed into a studio. In the early 60s she worked in black and white and then in 1966 she turned to working in colour.
She had attracted international attentionand one of her paintings was used for the cover to the catalogue of the exhibition ‘The responsive eye’ at the museum of modern art.
She then finally won the Internationsl Painting Prize at the Venice Biennalle in 1968.
I created my OWN OP ART which I believe works in a very similar way to hers. In the artwork above gives the illusion of movement as well as depth, my Op art creates the illusion of depth even though it is 2D
STARTER PROJECT 