Essay On Bridget Riley Cataract 3

The Cataract 3 by Bridget Riley is a Polyvinyl Acetate painting involving a series of wavy, horizontal lines across a 7’3 ¾” x 7’3 ¾” canvas. Bridget Riley is famous for making wonderfully illusive optical art (op art) pieces including Cataract 3. The work consists of very concentrated lines with light blue tones on the top and bottom that combine with a red hue towards the middle. This combination of primary color values causes the piece to appear almost violet (a secondary color) from far away, however, if a viewer really looks at it they discover the contrasting colors; in the value of the red as it joins with the blue. Riley’s painting might seem rather simple at first, yet it is abstract, objective, and complex in a very mystifying way. She drew a rhythm of lines with special variations between them at certain internals. This causes the painting to appear as if it is moving or flowing like a wave across the canvas. This motion continues to occur slowly over the course of time that a viewer looks at the painting.
Cataract 3’s pattern of lines causes it to lack variety, but have a great amount of
unity and balance throughout the entire piece that ties it all together. By having each individual line move together across this massively scaled composition it show the dedication she had towards the creation of the piece. Since it has such fluent unity it does not need a focal point for emphasis or proportion. When analyzing a piece like this one I think it is more important to focus on the style of the artist, biographical background, and feminist attributes instead of the other means of analysis. Riley is mainly an op artist, even though she has created other types of art each of which have a since of illusion in them. They cause the viewer to question what they are seeing or what the artist is wanting them to see within each piece. Cataract 3 is part of a color series at the beginning of when Riley started to use color in her pieces. Every piece of art she did before this series was strictly done in black and white, because she felt the need to gradually move onto using color once she understood the meaning of it better. This could be because of something that happened to her as a child or because she is a female artist especially since she was the first female to win the International Painting Award; meaning she was in a time when female artists were greatly unappreciated. Bridget Riley is also the first British Female artist, all of which could have affected the way she interpreted things or conducted her works. Each of Bridget Riley’s pieces cause the viewer to question the deeper meaning behind it.
In Cataract 3 her use of the principles and elements of design cause for a calming, sensual illusion. At the same moment she could simply be drawing lines to portray a certain visual appeal or demonstrating her interpretation of something she saw or experienced in her life. There could be some latent meaning behind this piece the Cataract 3 or she could just be wanting to paint something nice. I think Cataract 3 is part of an experience with mediums since this is one of her first color pieces and she uses Polyvinyl Acetate to create it. It provides a since of serenity as well as mystery within the lines and her intriguing use of color. Therefore, Bridget Riley’s mysterious masterpieces will always cause a type of enjoyment, appreciation, and excitement in myself and other
viewers.