Peter Kogler – Op Art Inspired Installations

Olly Op Art News February 1, 2012 0 Comment

Peter Kogler is widely acknoweledged as one of Austria’s leading contemporary artists. Over the past 20 years, Peter has worked towards a radical transformation of the exhibition space, making it an integral part of his work. He uses a comptuer to create digital patterns that he can then transform and adapt to the space he wishes to occupy. You can see two of his incredible and intricate Op Art influenced ‘labyrinths’ below. For more information on Peter and his Art, please visit his website, Kogler.net.

Dirimart gallery - Istanbul - 2011 - Peter Kogler

Galerie Johann Widauer - Innsbruck - 2011 - Peter Kogler

Thanks so much to Nathalie for kindly pointing me in the direction of Peter’s brilliant and original art.

Op Art Batman

Olly Op Art News January 20, 2012 0 Comment

A new extra-sized DC Comics special ‘Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes’, written by Grant Morrison with art by Chris Burnham has recently gone on sale (21st December 2011). If you’re wondering what this has got to do with Op Art, it’s that the artist Chris has intensified the story by drawing beautiful and detailed Op Art backgrounds for the action.

When discussing his visual style for the comic, Chris says:

“I think it was more trying to have each scene have its own vibe. The whole issue has that weird circular structure where Batman goes into the same room over and over – or really four different rooms. But I wanted to have each time that he stepped in there have a bit of a different feel to make it easier on the reader and to give myself something interesting to draw… That’s where all the op art and style effects come from.”

You can read the full interview with Chris over at Comic Book Resources.

Op Art Marilyn

Olly Op Art News January 3, 2012 0 Comment

I found an interesting Op Art portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Abderrahmane Doulache done using the “trait anglais” technique to give an Op Art effect. You can find some other excellent portrait based works on his profile on Art Limited.

“The “trait anglais” technique is hardly used today; it had its heyday in the press in the sixties when it was used mainly in advertising. The drawing was done in India ink for reproduction in black and white. For this portrait of Marilyn, I used the same technique, but introduced an extra dimension – that of color.” (Abderrahmane Doulache)

Update:

Abderrahmane has just released a very cleverly constructed Op Art portrait of James Dean. Click on the thumbnail below to see the portrait on artlimited.

Op Art candy

Olly Op Art News December 10, 2011 0 Comment

Icelandic licorice-based pastilles Opal have some great Op Art based packaging. The company was originally started in 1946 and the brand is still going strong.

What’s interesting is that the design was created by artist Atli Mar in 1946. This clearly pre-dates the ‘official’ Op Art movement by quite some time.

It gets even more interesting when you look back at the Oxydol washing machine powder packaging which was introduced in 1914.

Both designs remind me of the classic Mexico 1968 Olympics poster.

If you’re interested in trying Opals you can buy them here.

Bridget Riley’s 2012 Olympics poster on sale

Olly Op Art News November 28, 2011 1 Comment

Twelve posters have gone on sale to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games. The posters have been designed by leading British artists, including four Turner prizewinners.

Bridget Riley’s original, lively “Rose Rose” piece is composed of horizontal, coloured stripes with the overall colour impression leaning towards the ‘pink’ end of the spectrum.

“For her Olympic print, Riley has arranged colours in horizontal stripes, indicating the direction of athletic tracks or swimming lanes. The relationships between the colours create a sensation of movement capturing the energy of sport and the Olympic Games.”