Walls Are Talking : Wallpaper, Art & Culture - The Whitworth Art Gallery

Relating to my study within pattern and repetition, the Wallpaper exhibition at The Whitworth Gallery; Manchester seemed appropriate to visit.



Photography wasn't allowed, although I managed to take a few sneaky snaps before getting caught!
Research in sketchbook.

Vintage Fashion Fair

I visited a vintage fashion fair to get a sense of the fashions in the 1960's. By doing so, this helped me understand the look and feel of the clothes and how patterns such as Op would be applied.

Amongst clothes, there was a showcase of magazines, posters and packaging, again this proved of use, and a primary source of research.

I also managed to see a Mary Quant make-up collection, complete with the packaging, leaflets and inner 'goodies' (see photograph below)

Bridget Riley - Zephyr

To witness the personal impact myself, I went to view one of Riley's paintings. Although it isn't one of her black and white works (as most of which are exhibitited in America) I managed to receive the visual impact her paintings do have on ones eye.



The painting; Zephyr 1976 was one of Riley's coloured works
(after her black and white series) Manchester City Art Gallery.

Moving Op

Link
Link 2

What Does Pattern Sound Like?

A short film on how Norman McLaren produces certain patterns to produce certain nosies

Interseting video!

Link

Norman McLaren - Influence

Link



Don't stare too long!!

Norman McLaren - Influence

Link

Don't stare too long!!

Anthony Burill - Music Animation

From looking back at Burill's Acid Washed video, I noticed a similar resemblance / influnece to Norman McLaren's horizontal lines.

Link

Riley on Radio

BBC Four Link

Op Art Cigarette

Link - Created by advertising agency; JWT (Brazil) for the Cancer Hospital A C Camargo Brazil.

Both posters have the slogan "Cigarettes - just looking at them makes you sick"

Op

Link

Eye Burn

Article

The Responsive Eye

Article

Art as Visual Research

Article - Kinetic Illusions in Op Art

Modern Op

Article - Michael Kimmelman

New York Times Magazine; 27/08/2000 (pg 44)

Bridget Riley's - Eye & Body Problem

Article - Pamela M. Lee

Bridget Riley's Eye/Body Problem - Pamela M. Lee
October - Fall 2001, Issue 98 (pg 26)

Bridget Riley 1960-65

Article -Simon Rycroft

Environment & Planning D : Sociery & Science - June 2005, Vol. 23, Issue 3. (pg 351-71)
The Nature of Op Art : Bridget Riley and The Art of Non representational.

Bridget Riley Speaks

Video

Op Art - Martini Advert (late 1990's)

Martini Advert

Op Art : Pictures That Attack The Eye

Article

Time Magazine - Volume 84, Number 17
Jon Bargzinner

Julian Stanczak

Rain and Reflections

Ernest Benkertz

Black and White Optical Tickler (1964)

Edna Andrade

Colour Motion 4-64 (1964)

Niessen and De Vries

Niessen & De Vries

Renault Logo

Renault Logo 1972 - designed by Victor Vaserely.
A design which creates optical conundrum.

Susie Rosmarin

Article

Wolfgang Ludwig

Brief Article

Philip Taaffe

Peter Halley

Type Addicted - Book Cover

Type Addicted has a cover that uses Optical Illusions within it.
Article

Peter Saville - Optical Illusion Video

Graphic Designer Peter Saville, designed a short video for a campaign - Transport London to urge drivers to give motorcyclists a second thought.



The short video uses optical illusuons to show how the mind is easily tricked, and as with optical illusuons, some things aren't what they same, and this is the message Saville has portrayed within this campaign.


Article
Video

I Can't Sleep

Image Source

Op Art and Music

Anthony Burrill - Snake
Anthony Burrill - Acid Washed

Exhibitions Visits

I have to say there isn't much shown in art galleries/museums, relating to my chosen GARP topic. However, there are a few exhibitons that arose my interest and coloud be beneficial to me and help my research process.

Walker Art Gallery - Showcases a Riley paining, although not one of her black and whiter series.
Tate Britain info - Info
Tate Blog - Blog
Manchester Whitworth Gallery - Wallpaper/patterns

Various Links

Op Art explained 1
Op ART

Applied with Music

Found image here from Ashleigh Barron who has produced a typographic piece of work inspired from 'Digital' - Joy Division

I have found various examples of this style of work / optical design used in relation to music (covers/promotion flyers) does this pattern tend to work more appropriately with music themed products/work?

Does it relationship with mathematics also work alongside the notion of music/repetition/rhythm?

The Responsive Eye

The Responsive Eye was an exhibition in 1965 created by William C Seitz for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York.
The exhibition explored art that created illusions of movement that tricked the human eye.

Below shows a short DVD of the exhibition itself.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Interviews / Questions

Whilst being in the summer, I thought now would be a good oppourtunity to email some artists / designers work that I could use as part of my research for my GARP.
This allows for plenty of notice and also I can see who will participate and who wont.

So far, I emailed Simon C. Page, Melvin Galapon and Give Up Art...whom all replied back to me with a yes!
However, three people haven't replied back to me.

Books / References

Bridget Riley : Flashback - Hayward Publishing (2009)
Bridget Riley by Maurice de Sausmarez - Studio Vista Limited (1970)
Bridget Riley : Paintings & Drawings 1961-2004 - Ridinghaus, London (2004)
Bridget Riley : Selected Paintings 1961-99 - Hatje Cantz Publishers (2000)
Bridget Riley : Paintings 1982-2000 and Early Works on Paper - PaceWildenstein (2000)
Bridget Riley edited by Paul Moorhouse - Tate Publishing (2003)
Bridget Riley : Works 1959-78 - The Britsh Coucnil, London (1978)
Bridget Riley - Kunsthalle Nurnberg & The South Bank Centre (1992)
Bridget Riley : Reconnaissance - Distributed Art Publishing, New York (2001)

The above show some books I have looked through to help me with my section based on Riley and her Black and White paintings.

Idea Sorted?

From having many, if not too many ideas and routes to venture down after begining with hardly any...I think I may have finally pinned down a path to follow.

From my initial interest of black and white, I have decided to use this as a starting point. I will begin by looking at Bridget Riley's Black and White paintings - her use of optics (optical art)
This will then be explored within typography of today and it's imapct/appeal of the design.

This is a rough guideline, hopefully the more I explore, the clearer my intentions will be!

Idea 2

From looking at my direction, I was worried at my GARP being similar to a history book, a book that you could find in the library - which is what I didn't want. I want my GARP to be of interest and not something you could find in a book shop.

So, back to the drawing board I go....

Possible Avenues

From my starting point of 'Black and White' I have been looking into possible avenues this could take.
A possible route is how B&W can be used throughout illustration, i.e it's medium, wether it be paint, pencil, pen, ink, printmaking etc. This would allow me to then study the materials used and equipment such as ruling pens and explore the use of printmaking in depth....

GARP Topic / Options

Through looking over my work and my desired styles and ways of working, I decided to focus my GARP around 'black and white'.
Black and white is a way of working I admire, it's clean, simple and straight to the point. I favour alot of black and white illustrations and monochromatic designs.
From this interest, I will spend the next couple of weeks continuing my research to further this topic as at the momnet, it is far too broad.