Op Art

op art (ŏp), movement that became prominent in the United States and Europe in the mid-1960s. Deriving from abstract expressionism, op art includes paintings concerned with surface kinetics. Colors were used in creating visual effects, such as afterimages and trompe-l'oeil. Vibrating colors, concentric circles, and pulsating moiré patterns were characteristic of op works by such artists as Victor Vasarely, Richard Anusziewicz, Bridget Riley, Yaacov Agam, and Larry Poons. A comprehensive exhibition of op art, entitled "The Responsive Eye," was organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, in 1965.

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Op art

 or Optical art

Branch of mid-20th-century geometric abstract art that deals with optical illusion. Op art painters devised complex optical spaces by manipulating repetitive forms such as parallel lines, checkerboard patterns, and concentric circles or by creating chromatic tension from the juxtaposition of complementary colours, thereby creating the illusion of movement. Principal artists of the Op movement in the late 1950s and the '60s include Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley (b. 1931), and Larry Poons (b. 1937).

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Op Art 

(also optical art), an avant-garde current in the fine arts in the 1960’s; one of the late modifications of abstract art. Op art’s origins lie in geometric abstractionism, which was represented initially by V. Vasarely (born 1908), a Hungarian who settled in France in 1930. Vasarely is considered to be the founder of op art. His first experiments in the style date to the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Op art is based on the rhythmic combination of fundamental geometric forms that are repeated many times and that contain one another. Linear, spatial, and color relationships constantly change, thus creating the optical illusion of the simultaneous recession and advancement of planes. Areas of color also seem to move. The optical and decorative effects of op art have been used in industrial graphics, poster art, printing, advertising, textile design, window dressing, and interior design.

REFERENCES

Stoikov, A. “Chto takoe op-art?” In Iskusstvo, 1968, no. 12.
Kuz’mina, M. “Op-art.” In the collection Modernizm. Moscow, 1973. Pages 236–38.
Parola, R. Optical Art: Theory and Practice. New York-Amsterdam-London, 1969.
Barrett, C. Op Art. London, 1970.