David Buckden

David Buckden

David Buckden is an artist living and working in the UK who produces vibrant abstract geometric art.

All Memory and Fate
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
All Memory and Fate David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Anything She Sees
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Anything She Sees David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Geranium Kiss
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Geranium Kiss David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm

Originally a painter, in the late 1960s David gave up painting and instead concentrated on installations and film-making as this was very much the fashionable thing to do at the time. It wasn’t until 1999 that he returned to painting. Since then he has created 13 series of paintings. Starting originally with a Pop Art series, his work has gradually evolved into purely abstract, geometric art. The scientific aspects of visual perception – particularly that concerned with geometry, pattern and colour – have become fundamental to David’s work.

Gently Bentley
David Buckden
2008
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Gently Bentley David Buckden 2008 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
'Til Eternity
David Buckden
2008
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
‘Til Eternity David Buckden 2008 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Where it's Hid
David Buckden
2008
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Where it’s Hid David Buckden 2008 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm

Did you study art?

Yes – I took Fine Art at Harrow School of Art and at Nottingham College of Art, graduating with the Dip AD degree in 1971.

Why do you like Op Art?

I strive to create images which have a kinetic existence in the viewer’s perception; the ability of Op Art to interact with and interfere with our mechanisms of visual perception is something that fascinates me. My recent series of paintings have been primarily concerned with:

– Relative degrees of symmetry – e.g. symmetrical structure, but with irregular components
– Harmonies and dissonance of colour
– Patterns which can be ‘assembled’ in the eye to form large, emblematic shapes
– The role and reality (or otherwise) of after-images

Vague Traces
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Vague Traces David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Light the Candles
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
50cm x 50cm
Light the Candles David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 50cm
Symmetry in Bits
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Symmetry in Bits David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm

How do you make your art?

I paint in acrylic, using tape to achieve clean hard edges. Each work is fully pre-planned both for form and colour.

Who has inspired you?

As a practising painter I acknowledge many influences, from the very literary – Kitaj for example – to the makers of purely visual, self-contained experiences such as Rothko. My own work in more recent times has been of the latter type, but its major influencer was at work on my senses as an art student way back in the Sixties – the incomparable Bridget Riley.

Fire in the Sun
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Fire in the Sun David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Snapshot #3
David Buckden
2010
Acrylic on canvas
40cm x 40cm
Snapshot #3 David Buckden 2010 Acrylic on canvas 40cm x 40cm
Symmetry with Gravity
David Buckden
2009
Giclee print
28cm x 28cm
Symmetry with Gravity David Buckden 2009 Giclee print 28cm x 28cm

Think ‘Op’ and you surely must immediately also think ‘Riley’. However, I’m also very mindful of Bridget’s own scepticism about the application of the Op tag to work within the Sixties ‘fad’, wherein the style was used indiscriminately in popular design/decor/clothing. What you see in Bridget’s work is something far more significant than trick optical effects. And it’s a body of work which hardly any artist has ever rivalled, in terms of its sheer scale, range and continuing development.

Paul Moorhouse has summed things up very succinctly: Riley’s paintings exist on their own terms. Each work has its own character and each is self contained in the sense that, like a piece of music, its structure arises from purely internal formal or expressive considerations generated by the relationships between its component parts.

Reels of Rhyme
David Buckden
2007
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Reels of Rhyme David Buckden 2007 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Elsa
David Buckden
2008
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Elsa David Buckden 2008 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm
Elke
David Buckden
2008
Acrylic on canvas
61cm x 61cm
Elke David Buckden 2008 Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm

Recent exhibitions include:

2011 Patterned Beetroot Tree Gallery, Derby

2008/09/10 Canterbury Art Fair UCA, Canterbury

2008 Location Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight

2007 LM Open Finalists The Gallery, Cork Street, London

2007 United Artists Cottons Centre, London

2006 Headturner IOTA, Ramsgate

2006 Under the Influence IOTA, Ramsgate

2005 Images in the City Geffrye Museum, London

2004 Recent Paintings Oregano, Deal

2004 Recent Paintings Fuse Gallery, Sandwich

Original Vasarely work for sale at Heritage Auctions

Original Vasarely work for sale at Heritage Auctions

A forthcoming (23rd November 2013) auction at Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com – great domain name – somebody was forward thinking there) sees 3 works by Victor Vasarely for sale. 1 is an original signed painting and 2 are prints. If you are interested in owning some work by the father of Op Art then I would strongly suggest you have a look.

The original work is:

Cheyt-N

CHEYT-N, 1981

Acrylic on canvas

28 x 28 inches (71.1 x 71.1 cm)

Signed bottom right; additionally titled, signed, and dated

Estimate: $20,000 – $30,000.

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5167&lotNo=65104

The 2 prints are:

Untitled

Untitled

Lithograph in colors

27-1/4 x 26-1/2 inches (69.2 x 67.3 cm)

Ed. 145/250

Signed and numbered in pencil

Estimate: $1,000 – $1,500.

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5167&lotNo=65102

and:

Untitled

Untitled 

Silkscreen in color

26 x 26 inches (66.0 x 66.0 cm)

Ed. 88/250

Signed and numbered in pencil

Estimate: $1,000 – $1,500.

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5167&lotNo=65103

 

Mark Pease @ Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, USA

Mark Pease @ Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, USA

Las Manos Gallery is currently exhibiting the recent Op Art works of Mark Pease, a painter, printmaker, photographer, and animator. Mark is also a teacher at the University of Southern Illinois. The show is called ‘Climb into Space’ and runs until the end of November 2013.

Climb into Space - Mark Pease

If you want to find out more about the show, you can do so on the Las Manos Gallery blog, where you can also see some fascinating photos of Mark at work in his studio.

Mark Pease    untitled_aqua_21

 

 

“My work is focused on perception, vision and how we process visual material as we travel through our surrounding urban and suburban environments. I start with a fascination for the architecture of shopping malls, commercial offices, modernist buildings and public transportation. I’m interested in the observation of these places and non-places and other visual experiences as they relate to human daydreaming, artificiality and the recognition of our visual sensitivities. I also draw from a variety of sources for inspiration including Op art, children’s toys and 3D animation. The integration of digital imaging, vector graphics, modeling and animation allow me to reconstruct scenarios regarding these observed spaces. Investigating through several media in projects that are both abstract and representational, I explore the line between dazzling and lackluster, flat and dimensional, object versus image, print versus painting, and mass produced object versus high art object. I’m attempting to create physical experiences in much of what I do; either through optical energies that force the eye to manage contradictory illusions or through the re-focusing of light, shadow and space in a way that the viewer is able to empathise and attach themselves to inanimate objects, architectural elements, and man-made surfaces.”

Victor Vasarely @ Musee d’Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium

Victor Vasarely @ Musee d’Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium

The Musee d’Ixelles in Brussels, Belgium is currently running a Victor Vasarely tribute exhibition curated by Serge Lemoine featuring works that have been brought together from around Europe. Entrance is €8 for a regular ticket and €5 for concessions. The exhibition runs until 19 January 2014.

vasarely

“A key figure in kinetic art (or ‘Op Art’ as in optical art), Victor Vasarely attained distinction in twentieth century art history for his prolific abstract geometric pieces. A true master of composition, Vasarely combined, connected, swapped and assembled geometric elements with an accomplished vision, advocating formal minimalism and optical effects.

This hommage invites you to rediscover Vasarely’s rich and radically modern work.”

If anybody out there goes to this and wants to send me a copy of the exhibition poster I’d be really happy..!

Vasarely - Metagalaxie

Metagalaxie, 1961, 160 x 147.5 cm

More information on the Musee d’Ixelles website.