Every once in a while we get to see a fantastic Op Art inspired fashion collection. This time it’s from influential American fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
Marc Jacobs Spring 2013 collection features sharp black and white lines and strong repeating geometric patterns and has clearly been influenced by 1960s fashion and the work of Op Artists like Bridget Riley. You can see more of this inspired collection on the Marc Jacobs website.
All images © Marc Jacobs 2012: http://www.marcjacobs.com/
A new Michael James Kidner RA (1917-2009) – one of the original pioneers of Op art in the mid 1960s – exhibition has opened at the Flowers Gallery in London (Flowers, 82 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DP, +44 (0)20 7920 7777). The exhibition runs from the 12th September 2012 to 20th October 2012. Entrance to the exhibition is free and we would strongly recommend that you go to see this one if you are in London over this period.
3 Sets of Primaries – 1967 – Michael Kidner
“Dreams of the World Order, Early Paintings explores four areas of Michael Kidner’s painting practice: After Image, Stripe, Moiré and Wave. Works are predominantly from the 1960’s and are prime examples of Kidner’s progressive experiments with optical effects and rational procedures, inspired by his preoccupation with how space, pattern, and form function. A year after his death in 2009, a roll of paintings was discovered at his Hampstead Hill Gardens studio. This exhibition provides a unique opportunity to view these iconic works, (some of which have not been displayed since they were created,) alongside others from the same period.”
Blue, Green, Pink (Times Magazine) No.2 – c.1964 – Michael Kidner
Butterfly Wings – 1966 – Michael Kidner
Circle after Image – 1959-60 – Michael Kidner
Red Green and Blue – 1963 – Michael Kidner
It’s great to see Op Art transforming and bringing to life these otherwise dull communist era built flats in Gdansk, Poland.
The original design was done in 2010 with the murals being realised and completed shortly after. You can see the original design – which differs from what you see above – here (and below).
Op Art Murals in Gdansk – original design
The murals were painted by young artists from Fine Arts Academy in Gdansk to commemorate No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron which was one of 16 Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was the highest scoring RAF squadron of the Battle of Britain. Rafal Roskowinski the founder and lecturer at the Mural division of the Academy (who has also been responsible for many other Gdansk murals) said: “No 303 squadron was not an average unit. They were Polish knights and they gave a good lesson to the bandits…”
Thanks to Joanna Potratz for the photos and for finding the story.
Joanna Potratz, who lives and works in Poland, started creating her art in a difficult period in her life in which she was unhappy and out of work. Sitting down with just a pencil, ruler, fountain pen and paper she started creating geometric black and white pieces. At that time she says she had no experience of Op Art; the ideas and style just came to her and it wasn’t until much later that she realised that what she was drawing would be called Op Art.
Joanna says: “Each image took several hours of intensive manual work… Often I didn’t have any firm idea about the final effect before the piece was finished, so I was often surprised by what that effect was.”
Joanna didn’t study art formally, just finishing ‘typical college’. “I did all my works not knowing what style of art it was – in the same way Molier’s Monsieur Jourdain didn’t know he spoke in prose.” Now 38, Joanna has been creating Op Art for the past 20 years.
“I didn’t have an internet or computer until last year so I was not very well informed. It was only when I got online that I realised what it was that I had been drawing for the past 20 years! I work on A4 Bristol paper sheets of using a compass (drafting), a ruler, a pencil and a black ink fountain pen only. When I have an idea for a new image I take a pencil and ruler and start to sketch it out. The next stage involves filling in the fields with a fountain pen. Any little mistake disqualifies the piece and means I have to start again from beginning which can be a very frustrating process.”
“I had no inspiration from other artists simply because didn’t know any until last year when I discovered Op Art. Since then my interest in the art of others has grown and I often visit art galleries.”
“My long time love is astronomy and watching the sky. I love seeing a sun dog (parhelia) or other halo. The colours of the sky near the sea in North Poland where I live are the most beautiful art I have ever seen.”
If you would like to contact Joanna, you can email her on joannapotratz@tlen.pl
Ventilate have just released the 8th in their series of free posters on the theme of hallucinations. Each poster series sees a group of hand-picked talented professional artists and graphic designers designing and donating 24in x 36in, 300 dpi poster files which are provided as free downloads, ready-to-print. Included in this series is a set of 6 Op Art works by Bradley Munkowitz, one of the artists we have featured on this site.
You can see (and download) the complete series at Ventilate Posters.
The full list of contributors to this series are:
Bradley Munkowitz – work.gmunk.com
Atelier Olschinsky – olschinsky.at
Mars Sandoval – syndromestudio.com
Ron Gervais – townshipco.com
Taiyo Yamamoto – deform.in
Yuko Brown – mynameisnotyoko.com
Michael Brown – blissthis.ca