“Painters have always needed a sort of veil upon which they can focus their attention. It’s as though the more fully the consciousness is absorbed, the greater the freedom of the spirit behind.”
Bridget Riley was born in London and spent her childhood in Cornwall and Lincolnshire. She studied at Goldsmiths’ College from 1949 to 1952, and then the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. She has spent her career experimenting with several different art genres, however her most prominent and career-defining exploration came in 1960. Riley is most known for evolving a style that explores the illusions of optical phenomena. Optical Art or ‘Op-art’ as it is known produces a disorienting physical effect on the eye.
