Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that
makes use of optical illusions. "Optical art is a method of painting concerning
the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and
seeing." Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces
made in red and yellow . When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given
of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively,
of swelling or warping.
Movement in Squares, by Bridget Riley 1961
Op art is a perceptual experience related to how vision
functions. It is a dynamic visual art, stemming from a discordant figure-ground relationship
that causes the two planes to be in a tense and contradictory juxtaposition. Op
art is created in two primary ways. The first, and best known method, is the
creation of effects through the use of pattern and line. Another reaction that
occurs is that the lines create after- images of certain colors due to how the
retina receives and processes light. As Goethe demonstrates in his
treatise Theory of Colours, at the edge where light and dark meet, color
arises because lightness and darkness are the two central properties in the
creation of color.
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