Corona, (1970) Peter Sedgley
Unsurprisingly, given that her name is featured in the
title, Bridget Riley features strongly in Compton Verney’s Summer exhibition. I have to confess that Riley’s eye-popping
canvases have never been at the top of my favourite artworks list. I find them two highly coloured and the
effect of movement too disorientating, so to say I was expecting an exhibition focusing
entirely on ‘optical art’ to be quite a challenge, is an understatement.
The curatorial premise behind the exhibition is how artists
have exploited the ways in which the eye and mind perceive what is seen, with
its key themes - pattern and perception – demonstrated by works in which
colours other than those painted on the canvas are generated in the eye by the
viewer, and those that communicate movement by static form. With Seurat’s nineteenth century pointillist landscapes
as its starting point, leading to Bridget Riley and her fellow Op Artists of
the 1960s and right through to contemporary artists including Lothar Götz’s
site-specific wall painting and Liz West’s light installation, this exhibition
far exceeded my initial expectations.
Left: The Morning Walk, (1885) Georges Seurat Right: Abstract Multicoloured Design, (c.1915) Helen Saunders
After pulling myself away from Seurat’s exquisite “The Morning Walk” (1885), a sketch
which provided the starting point for his seminal work “The Seine at
Courbevoie” painted the same year, I was delighted to see “Abstract Multicoloured Design” (c.1915) by lone female British
Vorticist Helen Saunders. After some
examples of geometric and kinetic art (notably Josef Albers and Victor Vasarely)
and before the first full explosion of eye-popping canvases from the 1960s, a
wall of preparatory sketches and works in black in white by Bridget Riley, such
as “Study for Painting ‘Pause’”
(1964), really took me by surprise. The
delicate balance of line, tone and illusion of movement were for me, far more engaging
that her colour works. In fact, I found many
of the black and white artworks in the exhibitions much more interesting than
the multi-coloured ones.
Blaze IV, (1963), Bridget Riley
Ecclesia (1985), Bridget Riley
Most exciting about this exhibition was the fact that
despite its title, it was far more than just a historical survey. As Riley is still extant (and producing art),
it opened up the potential of bringing in her later works as well as more contemporary
artists, whose work has been influenced by the movement and who are interested
in exploring ‘optical art’ further.
Standing out amongst these were Jim Lambie’s “Sun Visor” (2014), Lothar Götz’s geometric drawings (2015-2017)
and most notably Liz West’s beautifully serene light installation “Our Spectral Vision” (2016).
Exhibition View
Installation view: Lothar Götz
Despite the art galleries being split up throughout the rooms
of the eighteenth century mansion house and around its other decorative galleries,
and resulting in a certain amount of disjointedness, Seurat to Riley: The Art
of Perception surpassed all my expectations.
Although my tolerance for the illusionary nature of most Op Art remains the
same, being introduced to the work of artists previously unknown to me, like
Jesús
Rafael Soto and Peter Sedgley and seeing Riley’s early work, made the trip up
to Warwickshire more than worth it.
Our Spectral Vision, (2016) Liz West
