Visual research
Bridget Riley
Optical painting, repeated line, and the active perception of a field.
About
MoMA records Current (1964) as synthetic polymer paint on board. Its black-and-white lines were painted by hand; MoMA describes them as producing vibration and an illusion of depth. The work appeared in The Responsive Eye at MoMA in 1965. [1]
Why they matter here. For Algorithmics, the relevant question is not how to copy the painting, but how a repeated line can create motion through spacing, curvature, and optical pressure.
Selected works and methods
- Current (1964)
- black-and-white line fields
- apparent vibration
- curvature and spacing as optical structure
Work record
MoMA collection record: Current (1964)
MoMA identifies Current (1964) as synthetic polymer paint on board and records it in the museum collection. Rights remain with Bridget Riley and the relevant rightsholders; no reuse licence is implied.