Bridget Riley

Siegen

It was during the 1960s when Bridget Riley began to paint the black and white works for which she is well known. They present a great variety of geometric forms that produce sensations of movement or colour. In the early 1960s, her works were said to induce sensations in viewers as varied as seasickness and sky diving. Works in this style comprised her first solo show in London in 1962 at Gallery One run by Victor Musgrave, as well as numerous subsequent shows. Visually, these works relate to many concerns of the period: a perceived need for audience participation (this relates them to the happenings, for which the period is famous), challenges to the notion of the mind-body duality which led some people to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs; concerns with a tension between a scientific future which might be very beneficial or might lead to a nuclear war; and fears about the loss of genuine individual experience in a Brave New World.

On July 1, 2012 she will be honored for her life’s oeuvre with the City of Siegen’s Rubens Prize.

Therefore, Bridget Riley herself conceptualized the exhibition in the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, which features work groups from 1980 on. In these groups of works, various strategies of lining up and intertwining stripes, rhomboid and curved figures, but also circles are presented. Riley has chosen a special form of presentation. By positioning juxtapositions of two or three pictures in a total of 12 museum rooms she intensifies the effects of color and shape through comparison. The result is an exciting and invigorating visual experience. The exhibition also includes two wall-sized paintings and a drawing encompassing an entire wall.

Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen

July 1st – November 11th, 2012
Unteres Schloss 1
57072 Siegen
Germany

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