Op Art

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Op Art
Op art, also known as optical art, is a genre of
visual art, especially painting, that makes use
of optical illusions. Op art is also known as
geometric abstraction and hard-edge abstraction,
although the preferred term for it is perceptual
abstraction. "Optical Art is a method of
painting concerning the interaction between
illusion and picture plane, between understanding
and seeing. Op art works are abstract, with many
of the better known pieces made in only black and
white. When the viewer looks at them, the
impression is given of movement, hidden images,
flashing and vibration, patterns, or
alternatively, of swelling or warping.
Bridget Riley, Movement in Squares, 1961. OP ART
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Bridget Riley, Movement in Squares, 1961. OP ART
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Op Art is derived from the constructivist
practices of the Bauhaus. This German school,
founded by Walter Gropius, stressed the
relationship of form and function within a
framework of analysis and rationality. Students
were taught to focus on the overall design, or
entire composition, in order to present unified
works. When the Bauhaus was forced to close in
1933, many of its instructors fled to the United
States where the movement took root in Chicago,
where Anni and Josef Albers would come to teach.
An optical illusion by Hungarian-born artist
Victor Vasarely
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Bridget Riley, Cataract 3, 1967.OP ART
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Bridget Riley, Arrest 1, 1965.OP ART
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Jenny Holzer
As a graduate of Ohio University, the main focus
of Jenny Holzer has been on the investigation of
ways to disseminate ideas within public space.
Since the late seventies, she has been working in
the street and in public buildings, using media
such as, LCD displays (e.g., in Times Square, New
York) posters and stickers (applied to such urban
elements as telephone booths or parking meters),
these artworks art intended to stimulate
awareness of our social conditioning as conveyed
by the very landscape in which we may be
confronted by them."
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EXPRESSING ANGER IS NECESSARY LABOR IS A
LIFE-DESTROYING ACTIVITY DECENCY IS A RELATIVE
THING LEISURE TIME IS A GIGANTIC SMOKE SCREEN
IDEALS ARE REPLACED BY CONVENTIONAL GOALS AT A
CERTAIN AGE FEAR IS THE GREATEST
INCAPACITATOR THE WORLD OPERATES ACCORDING TO
DISCOVERABLE LAWS REVOLUTION BEGINS WITH
CHANGES IN THE INDIVIDUAL DISGUST IS THE
APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO MOST SITUATIONS IT IS
MAN'S FATE TO OUTSMART HIMSELF IT'S VITAL TO
LIVE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE MONEY CREATES TASTE
MOSTLY YOU SHOULD MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS OLD
FRIENDS ARE BETTER LEFT IN THE PAST YOUR OLDEST
FEARS ARE THE WORST ONES
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Earthworks
Land Art, Earthworks or Earth Art is an art
movement which emerged in America in the late
1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the
work of art are inextricably linked. Sculptures
are not placed in the landscape, rather the
landscape is the very means of their creation.
The works frequently exist in the open, located
well away from civilization, left to change and
erosion under natural conditions.
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970. EARTHWORKS
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Robert Smithson, 1969.
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Unidentified,Marree Man(Stuarts
Giant)Discover June 26, 1998 EARTHWORKS
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• Andy Goldsworthy

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Walter De Maria, The Lightning Field, 1977.
EARTHWORKS
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Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. EARTHWORKS
Four cast concrete, 18 ft. tunnels with open ends
aligned with the points on the horizon where the
sun rises and sets at the winter and summer
solstices. Penetrating the tunnels are holes with
diameters of 7 to 10 inches in the patterns of
the four constellations of Capricorn, Draco,
Columbia and Perseus.
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Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. EARTHWORKS
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