Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Riley, Bridget (1999-2000). Evoë One [oil on canvas]. © 2000 Bridget Riley. All rights reserved.

A visually pleasant work depicting either a tangled mess of looping, thick and colorful strokes or a series of shapes passing through a “filter” that switches their colors from warm to cool. The lateral organization of undulating shapes seems to imitate the slow-paced, passage of time. | 
As a work of nonobjective abstraction, the subject has been reduced to the graceful interaction of curved and angled shapes that seem to gracefully drift across the picture plane. The form this work takes is a lesson in distillation. The expert use of pattern, color, value and purity combine to create a specific series of emotions in the viewer: calm and a sense of pleasure for the most part.
Lines are implied through shape edges; graceful curvilinear shapes are the basic vehicle of this work. The same shapes are contrasted by sharp straight edges which aid in the undulating binding of the work through their shared angle. Colors are somewhat pale, mostly pure and mostly cold in tone.
Spaces is largely shallow, imitating wave crests and dips of a calm ocean (assuming a perpendicular, aerial view of the waves parallel with the ground). Elemental treatment is not a literal reflection by either dimension, but elemental interaction and weight are homogeneous. Organic, intuitive harmony is created through shape edges, color, value and purity. Color temperature and rigid versus curved edges introduce interest. 
Eye movement follows the lateral “motion” of the wave-forms, back and forth, heavily complemented by the wide shape the picture frame creates. As stated before, picture frame merges with the lateral motion of the work. picture plane angle is not strictly defined, but could be thought of as either being perpendicular or parallel to the “ground”. In either case, the viewer is perpendicular to the image; the shapes, while in motion, to not diminish either laterally or vertically. Organic unity is achieved; the minimal amount of elements are employed for maximum artistic effect. 


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