The Eye's Mind: Bridget Riley: Collected Writings 1965-1999: Bridget Riley - Collected Writings, 1965-99 Book

Bridget Riley has long been a respected if rather unfashionable artist whose fascination with the sheer pleasure of seeing, articulated in non-representational forms such as lines, curves and ovals, has never dwindled. As an artist who has produced a consistent, and consistently interesting, body of work Riley is unequalled in the British art world. Her vision seems uniquely suited to non-representational art concerned, as it is, with what the viewer brings to any work outside of the closure of meanings. Riley's art is about the wonder of the visual feast. Op Art (Optical Art) seemed to Riley a good enough definition of what she was doing when she was fashionable, and has continued to do ever since, because it is a definition unencumbered by ideology. Riley, in this sense similar to the abstract expressionists or colour-field artists (but without their worthy grandeur) pares painting down to its essence: looking. She asks us to look carefully and then plays with what we see by a variety of painterly ruses. Her technical expertise is wonderful but the forms never become formalistic, they remain continually exciting. This lovely book (with 49 illustrations, 22 in colour) represents Riley's collected writings from 1965-99 and includes a number of fascinating interviews in all three main sections of the book ("Autobiographical", "Development as Painter" "On Art and Other Artists"). We come away impressed by the singularity of her exercise, the fluidity of her own writing and the clarity with which she expresses her artistic vision in the interviews. Most importantly, we are drawn back to looking afresh at her work. --Mark ThwaiteRead More