(Above) Collage study, revision of 15th December (1993). Collection of the artist, © Bridget Riley
Exhibition: Bridget Riley – Flashback, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Norwich, until September 5 2010
A new series of Hayward Touring exhibitions from the Arts Council Collection, Flashback comes to Norwich with a showcase of one of the UK’s most influential contemporary artists, Bridget Riley.
This monographic exhibition kicks off a combination of Riley’s early works alongside some new pieces provided by the artist, giving a unique insight into the evolution of her art.
Famous for her distinctive and optically vibrant paintings, Riley generates sensations of movement, light and space.
Ecclesia (1985). Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. © Bridget Riley
A seminal work in the show is 1961’s Movement in Squares. Consistently exhibited in museum retrospectives of her work, it is credited by Riley as the beginning of her breakthrough into abstraction.
Twenty years later Riley woke up with a raging thirst for exploring painted colours, a fascination best portrayed in Ecclesia.
Each colour band of the painting has a clear identity: step back and the colours begin to interact. Further away a field of closely modulated harmonies is cut by strong contrasts – a new horizon opens up in front of the viewer. The visitor’s eye could then produce the after-image of yellow-orange to compensate for the intensity of the blue.
In Collage study, Revision of 15th December Riley carries on working simultaneously on the same creative levels, contemplating the physical identity of the painted colours and the visual experience of their relationship.
Movement in Squares (1961). Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. © Bridget Riley
The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. Feeling caressed and soothed, the viewer should expect frictions and ruptures, glide and drift. One moment there will be nothing to look at and the next second the canvas seems to refill, becoming crowded with visual events.
In her search for a new form that would be unlike any she had used before, Bridget Riley created 19 Greys, Cool Ground - a form that doesn’t have the familiar identity of squares, triangles and ovals.
Later, in 1998, Composition with Circles constructs a volatile and dynamic space of overlapping transparent circles. While stressing the importance of clarity of colour and order of mind, here Riley also recognizes the relationship between music and painting.
Most of the paintings are made of cut bands of painted paper in a collage technique to adjust, change and move colours around.
19 Greys, cool ground (1966). Collection of the artist. © Bridget Riley
Riley herself sees a direct correlation between her extensive studies in drawing from life and the development of this work, which allowed her to “trust the eye at the end of my pencil”.
Her 1971 and 1992 solo shows at the Hayward marked the beginning of a longstanding relationship with the Arts Council Collection.
“Her international reputation leads her more often to exhibit outside this country,” says Caroline Douglas, Head of the Collection.
“It is a particular pleasure that we are able to bring her work to regional museums.”
Open 10am-4.30pm (1pm-5pm Sunday). Admission £2.40-£3.30. For more on the Hayward’s touring exhibitions visit their website.
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