The Op Art, or Optical Art movement was at its peak in the 1960’s and is represented by paintings and sculptures that seem to move and vibrate through the use of optical effects. The leading artists of the Op Art movement included Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely who use colors and patterns in their works to create an effect that disorientates the viewer. Sculptors such as Eric Olsen and Francisco Sobrino achieved a similar effect in their sculptures by using layers of different colors. Op Art artists used ideas from perceptive psychology and coupled them with maximum precision to achieve the results of illusion and distortion.
Op Art is a type of abstract art that is closely related to the Kinetic and Constructivist art movements. Originally the Op Art movement was criticized by skeptics but gained instant popularity with people all over the United States and Europe. After the ‘Responsive Eye’ exhibition in New York in 1965 the term Op Art became a critically acclaimed art form, and the term not only became popular, but the style infiltrated a variety of canvas types ranging from paintings to high fashion. Famous Op Art artists include Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, and Heinz Mack.
Victor Vasarely
Victor Vasarely was born in Pecs, Hungary in the year 1906 and studied art at the art academy in Budapest. At the academy he learned about contemporary research regarding color and optics with Jaohannes Itten, and the Constructivists Malevich and Kandinsky. Victor Vasarely's first solo exhibition was in 1930 in Budapest, and for the next 13 years after this he devoted his time to graphic studies in Paris. Victor Vasarely had a fascination with linear patterns prompted him to draw abstract patterned subjects like his series of checkers, tigers and zebras.
During this time Victor Vasarely also created 3-dimensional works by utilizing layers of cellophane to create illusions of depth. By 1943 Victor Vasarely was working with oil paints and creating both abstract and figurative compositions. In 1947 Victor Vasarely had a solid vision of his place in abstract art, where he felt that internal geometry was in existence below the surface of the whole world. He concluded that form and color were inseperable and completely dependent on one another. Throughout the 1950's Victor Vasarely wrote a series of personal manifestos regarding the use of optics for artistic endeavors. Victor Vasarely played a large part in the development of Op Art, and continues to inspire young artists today.
