Op Art
Op Art Style
Op Art is a twentieth century art movement and style which is comprised of illusion. It often appears to be moving or breathing due to its precision and mathematically-based composition. The phrase Optical Art (often referred to as Op Art) was created in an article in Time Magazine in October of 1964. The official life span of the movement is around three years, late 1964-1969. There are many pieces of artwork that is characteristic of this style which was created long before these dates and there are many artists who continue to create art in this style.
Victor Vasarely is considered the pioneer of the movement clear back in 1938 with a piece of work entitled Zebra. M.C.Escher’s work is much earlier and he is sometimes listed as an op artist because of use of perspective and tessellations. Bridget Riley is an artist who continues to work in this style.
Key Characteristics of Op Art
- Op Art exists to fool the eye. These compositions create a visual tension in a viewer’s mind. It gives the illusion of movement.
- Op Art is almost always non-representational because of its geometrically-based nature.
- Elements such as color, line, and shape are carefully chosen to create maximum effect.
- The techniques used in Op Art are perspective and careful placement of color.
- Positive and negative spaces in a composition are of equal importance.
Terms:
Elements: the basic components of art that are combined to create compositions.
Perspective: the way an artist represents the real, three-dimensional world on a flat or two-dimensional surface.
Composition: the arrangement of elements of art such as color, line, shape, form, texture, space, and value, into proper proportion or relation
Positive space: the object or focus of a piece of art
Negative space: the space around the object or focus of a piece of art work
