It’s an art movement that emerged in the 1950s.
Optical art or Op art is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions.
Op artworks are abstract, with many pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or warping.
The characteristics of op art are:
- It uses simple geometric figures that together form more complex figures.
- All the works made are static and have no real movement.
The Op Art's main objective is to make several visual effects that simulate movement.
It is the kind of art to play games with how our brains interpret the information our eyes are giving us.
Op artists try to use colors, shapes, and patterns to create images that look as if they are moving or blurring, playing tricks on the viewer.
Also, Op compositions create a sort of visual tension in the people’s mind that gives works the illusion of movement.
There was a time when meanings were focused and reality could be fixed; when that sort of belief disappeared, things became uncertain and open to interpretation. ~Bridget Riley.
Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French Op who was considered to be the creator of the earliest examples of Op art.
Bridget Riley is an English painter who is one of the foremost proponents of the 1960s Op art movement.
Here are some examples of optical art
Movement in Squares.
Bridget Riley.
Focusing isn’t just an optical activity, it is also a mental one. ~Bridget Riley.
