Jesús Rafael Soto and Bridget Riley, the two artists paired in this gallery, never met. But they each emerged as a leader of the international Op art movement in the 1950s and ’60s. Informed by scientific theories of perception, their works exploited the optical effects of abstract patterns to create the illusion of movement. “What interests me is the transformation of matter,” explained Soto. “Taking an element, a line, a bit of wood or metal, and transforming it . . . into vibrations.” Riley spoke of the “colossal energies involved. . . in the units, intervals, and lines” of her paintings.
A Venezuelan artist based in Paris, Soto participated in Le Mouvement, a 1955 exhibition at Galerie Denise René that introduced optical and kinetic art to a global audience. Riley, a British artist working in London, was prominently featured in The Responsive Eye, a group exhibition at MoMA in 1965. This show launched Op art and its psychologically disorienting geometries into the public imagination.
Organized by Starr Figura, Curator, with Rachel Rosin, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.
