Robin Hunnam creates both digital and photographic Op Art. He studied graphic design at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, went on to work as an art director in a London Advertising Agency and now works a designer and illustrator.
![Necker Cube Crosses
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/op-art-necker-cubes-crosses.jpg)
![Hollow Tiles Tessellation
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/hollow-tiles-tessellation-feb-12-1.jpg)
![Hollow Necker Cubes
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/op-art-hollow-necker-cubes-web.jpg)
“The two most important lessons that I learnt during the course were that at its heart, design is really only concerned with problem solving and that a great idea is always better than a great technique. This realisation was never more important than during my career as an art director in London advertising agencies – places where ideas are the most valuable currency.“
“Great ideas are about simplicity and about stripping away the unnecessary or the merely decorative. Op Art is a dramatic example of the visual power of simplicity. Some of the most memorable artworks from the movement are even devoid of colour, tone and variety of line and shape.”
![Music Stand Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/music-stand-feb-2012.jpg)
![String Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/string-feb-12.jpg)
![Striped Mugs Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/striped-mugs-feb-12.jpg)
Robin cites Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely as major influences; it was M. C. Escher however who was the most influential on the development of Robin’s art and design work.
“His work has an elegance of idea and execution. When I look through his body of work I see behind it the countless initial ideas, the failures and dead-ends that came before the final piece. By the time that the viewer first sees the completed work, there is a sense that it has always existed. His ability to create a visual magic that is greater than the sum of the visual parts will never fail to inspire me.“
![Nylon Cord Pattern Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/nylon-cord-pattern-feb2012.jpg)
![World of Cardboard Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/world-of-cardboard-feb-12.jpg)
![Pencil Pattern Robin Hunnam 2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/pencil-pattern-feb-2012.jpg)
“I strive to make my work look effortless and even obvious – trying to keep it a secret that it took many initial pencil sketches before it even began to take shape on the computer. I work on an Apple iMac and use Adobe CS4 – primarily the Illustrator program. I am most at ease with Illustrator simply because it thinks like I do and it looks kindly on people who can really draw in the old-fashioned way.”
![Off Centre Circular Op Art
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/off-centre-circular-op-art-feb-2012.jpg)
![Radiating Checkerboard
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/radiating-checkerboard-feb-12.jpg)
![Hollow Circle
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/hollow-cicle-feb-12.jpg)
“I believe it is important to look beyond the narrow confines of western art and design for inspiration in one’s own work and I spend time researching arts and crafts from other times and other cultures including Japan, Polynesia, first nation America, and Africa. It is humbling to realise that artists and craftsmen for millennia have wrestled with and resolved the same visual problems that I try to today.”
![Spinning Top
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/untitled-1.jpg)
![Concentric Squares 2
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/op-art-conentric-squares-2.jpg)
![Radiating Rings
Robin Hunnam
2012](http://j2y.117.mywebsitetransfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/op-art-radiating-rings.jpg)
You can see more of Robin’s Op Art work on his website, Grasshoppermind.