Bridget Riley: Studies 1984-95
Text by Natalia Naish and Alexandra Tommasini. Interview by Robert Kudielka
Tracking a transitional period of Bridget Riley’s career, the works on paper in this volume move from the vertical stripe to increasingly complex diagonal compositions. During the mid-1980s, Riley introduced a new pictorial device – the rhomboid – to the then predominantly vertical stripes, developing her exploration of interplaying tones of green, yellow and orange. Riley constructs new visual relationships between divergent colors and forms within these works, creating what the artist terms a ‘harmony of contrasts’ that animates the entire visual field. Illustrated in full color, the works are accompanied by a historic interview with the artist by Robert Kudielka and a text by Natalia Naish and Alexandra Tommasini, which situate these studies with major paintings during this period.
Publisher: Ridinghouse
Artists: Bridget Riley
Contributors: Robert Kudielka, Natalia Naish, Alexandra Tommasini
Designer: Tim Harvey
Printer: Studio Fasoli, Verona, Italy
Publication Date: 2015
Binding: Softcover
Dimensions: 7 3/4 x 9 in (19.7 x 22.9 cm)
Pages: 72
Reproductions: 34 color
ISBN: 9781909932043
Retail: $25 US & Canada | £15.95 | €23
Status: Available
Bridget Riley
One of the most significant artists working today, Bridget Riley’s dedication to the interaction of form and color has led to a continued exploration of perception. From the early 1960s, she has used elementary shapes such as lines, circles, curves, and squares to create visual experiences that actively engage the viewer, at times triggering optical sensations of vibration and movement. Her earliest black-and-white compositions offer impressions of several other pigments, while ensuing, multi-chromatic works present color as an active component. Although abstract, her practice is closely linked with nature, which she understands to be “the dynamism of visual forces—an event rather than an appearance.”
Robert Kudielka
Robert Kudielka is an art historian and former Professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of the Arts, Berlin. He is the co-author with Bridget Riley of Paul Klee: The Nature of Creation, Works, 1914-1940 (2002) and author and editor of numerous books on Riley, including Robert Kudielka on Bridget Riley: Essays and interviews since 1972 (2005; revised and expanded edition, 2014) and The Eye’s Mind: Bridget Riley, Collected Writings 1965-2009 (2009).
