Op Art

The Op Art, or Optical Art movement was at its peak in the 1960’s and is represented by paintings and sculptures that seem to move and vibrate through the use of optical effects. The leading artists of the Op Art movement included Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely who use colors and patterns in their works to create an effect that disorientates the viewer. Sculptors such as Eric Olsen and Francisco Sobrino achieved a similar effect in their sculptures by using layers of different colors. Op Art artists used ideas from perceptive psychology and coupled them with maximum precision to achieve the results of illusion and distortion. Op Art is a type of abstract art that is closely related to the Kinetic and Constructivist art movements. Originally the Op Art movement was criticized by skeptics but gained instant popularity with people all over the United States and Europe. After the ‘Responsive Eye’ exhibition in New York in 1965 the term Op Art became a critically acclaimed art form, and the term not only became popular, but the style infiltrated a variety of canvas types ranging from paintings to high fashion. Famous Op Art artists include Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, and Heinz Mack.

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