The National Gallery, London
Bridget Riley – Painting and Related Works.
24th Nov ’10 – 22nd May ’11.
In the Sunley rooms nestled amongst paintings by great Masters is a small and intimate exhibition by Bridget Riley. Riley is best known for her optical illusion paintings ‘Op Art’.
The first of her paintings is situated in the dimmer of the two rooms, opposite to related works by George Seurat and Mantegna; these two were big influences on her. In Seurat’s work she admired his use of colour to create composition and not the other way round. Mantegna’s picture surface, pictorial space and the tension between the paint and what is painted is where Riley’s interests lie and she explores these in her paintings. Her images dance and swim before your eyes, where colours and shapes merge together so you are never quite sure where the painting starts or finishes. The movement she achieves is quite amazing, especially in ‘Cataract 2’, oil on linen from 1967. It is like looking at waves on the sea, but it’s the tonal use of a simple palette of red, white and blue that gives this image depth.
Next you step into the other room; this is brightly lit with a contemporary feel which is a complete contrast from the room I had just left, where the lights have to be left dim in order to preserve the old paintings. It is almost a physical feeling of the passing of time in a few small steps.
Directly opposite the entrance is ‘Black on White Discs’, acrylic on canvas painted in 1962. This large canvas plays with your eyes in a different way. The black to grey spots are in a diamond shape and set on a white background. When looked at for a while they give the illusion of a dark world going on behind and these discs are a gateway to this world beyond. As I turned away from this painting white spots danced before my eyes causing me to blink a few times to refocus.
In 2007 Riley painted ‘Red on Red’, oil on linen. Diagonal patches of cerise, blue and bright red on a white background play tricks with your sight. The luminosity of the dominant cerise drags down the bright red and somehow it’s the shape of the blue rather than the colour itself that is drawn in.
In ‘Saraband’ from 1985, oil on linen, Riley demonstrates a good use of colour value. This painting is made up of vertical stripes of different colours which vary in value and intensity. The blue and green being the highest in value jump out at you, whilst the rest seemingly merge together into the background.
These four out of the eleven paintings exhibited were the ones that captured my attention the most. Their hallucinogenic powers and the use of limited simple colours and tones persuade your brain to see the movement of colours and shapes that at first glance are not present.
This is a free exhibition which shows in the limited paintings on display. Realistically I would rather have paid to see twice as many. Although saying that, I would also have had to conquer the slight feeling of motion sickness I get from looking too closely and for too long at some of Riley’s work. This is not because I don’t like them it’s just the effect they have on me. Overall I really enjoyed it, it made me see and not just look and I would definitely recommend going to see it.
