Illusion in Art.
Optical Art or Op Art, a phrase coined by popular Time magazine in October of 1964, refers to the use of precise mathematical based composition to create an illusion tricking - the human eye to believe that the art is question is moving, taking static imagery and making is seem kinetic.
Op art captivated the public audience after a major exhibition in 1965, The Responsive eye. Held at the MoMa in New York the show hosted works by artists such as Victor Vasarely and Josef Albers, Paul Feely and a collective of work by a Spanish group of artists called Equipo 57. Focused on the perceptual aspect of art the exhibition was hugely popular with the public audience and soon began appearing in the commercial world in both print and television adverts, album art, fashion and interior design. Controversy arose when popular Op artist Bridget Riley attempted to sue an american company for using one of her paintings as a base for a fabric design.
Despite the movement gaining its name and public success in 1964 many view the movement to have start much earlier with Victor Vasarely’s painting Zebra in 1938. Vasarely stated that "Every form is a base for colour, every colour is the attribute of a form." Forms from nature were thus transposed into purely abstract elements in his paintings. Recognising the inner geometry of nature, Vasarely wrote, "the ellipsoid form... will slowly, but tenaciously, take hold of the surface, and become its raison d'être. Henceforth, this ovoid form will signify in all my works of this period, the 'oceanic feeling'...I can no longer admit an inner world and another, an outer world, apart. The within and the without communicate by osmosis, or, one might rather say: the spatial-material universe, energetic-living, feeling-thinking, form a whole, indivisible... The languages of the spirit are but the super vibrations of the great physical nature.” During this time Vasarely created many pieces using linear patterning, figurative drawing and abstract patterned subjects. He employed a technique of layering sheets cellophane on one another to generate the illusion of depth.
Another artist also considered to be a pioneer of Optical Art and the use of illusions in art is M. C. Escher. “His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet.He is most famous for his so-called impossible constructions, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles. But he also made some wonderful, more realistic work during the time he lived and traveled in Italy.
Castrovalva for example, where one already can see Escher's fascination for high and low, close by and far away. The lithograph Atrani, a small town on the Amalfi Coast was made in 1931, but comes back for example, in his masterpiece Metamorphosis I and II.”
Metamorphosis I is an exploration of tessellation. Escher has began his woodcut with an illustrative drawing of a built up town clearly inspired by traditional Italian architecture. Using the square forms Escher has slowly and precisely transformed buildings to gently change the image, tessellating the shapes into cubes and more abstract shapes, resulting in a cartoon of a man.
I have decided to look at this piece in particular as I personally find it fascinating and extremely clever how Escher as effortlessly completely changed the form and dimension transitioning from 3 dimensional drawings to a 2 dimensional cartoon. I have also found a surprising and unplanned link between his work and my own objectives for my project. This piece sums up how I had originally planned to transition my exploration of my theme through 2 and 3 Dimensions whilst also coincidentally featuring the integral pattern of my own work.
Like most Optical Art Escher has used a monochrome palette and simple lines to illustrate his work. This works well with his style and subject matter as the clear distinction of colour to the eye makes for a stronger 3 dimensional effect on the human eye. I believe this also gives the piece more of an impact on the whole. The harsh contrast between the shades really draw your eye to the piece and the smooth tessellation of the design slowly guides the eye along the work.
Despite my love for the tessellation in this piece I am most inspired by his use of the cubic pattern. The pattern is both simple yet effective and has proven to be popular with an audience through the popularity of Eschers own work. I would like to continue using this pattern in my own work yet give it more of a contemporary edge with the use of colour, modern materials and light. I hope for my work to be as visually successful as that of Eschers and provide a really illusion of depth and dimension within the audience.
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