“The working process is one of discovery and it is worth remembering that the word discovery implies an uncovering of that which is hidden.”
When I was growing up I studied Bridget Riley at school and I did not realise to what extent she had influenced my work until I went to her exhibition yesterday, it reminded me of the intuitive patterns I used to draw to relax my mind. Her work is very rhythmic and the colours seem to vibrate outwards and move on the canvas. I love the way you can view the pieces using the left and the right side of the brain and as you switch perspective between the two the picture changes.
“It’s all relative, and subjective, a matter of the mind as well as the body. Memory and mood, youthfulness and age all play their part.”
I particularly like her black and white pieces and I spent longer looking at these and became very absorbed. She describes them as, “a cycle of ‘repose, disturbance and repose’; an interplay of feelings of composure and anxiety.” I often draw these black and white patterns when I feel anxious and I found it interesting to see the similarity. Some of her pieces made me feel quite disorientated, others were medititive and drew me into another state of mind showing once more that art can have an effect on our mood and the way we see the world.
“How we see things, and what we see, has psychological as well as physiological and neurological dimensions.”
“Drawing is an exercise in looking: one finds out what can be seen and at the same time one finds oneself having to organise the visual and emotional information extracted.” Bridget Riley 2010.
Bridget Riley Exhibition, The Haywood Gallery, London. (2019)
Bridget Riley review – a shimmering rolling, flickering spectactular. The Guardian, 22nd October (2019)
MA Art Therapy Blog 