OP~ART INFLUENCE
Bridget Riley is well-known since the mid-1960s for her distinctive, optically vibrant paintings, called “Op Art”. She characterised her work to the art critic David Sylvester in 1967 as “High-voltage”. Her work explores optical phenomena and juxtaposes color either by using a chromatic technique of identifiable hues or by selecting achromatic colors. In doing so, her work appears to flicker, pulsate and move, encouraging the viewer’s visual tension.By Efi Michalarou
Photo: David Zwirner Gallery
When I begin a painting, I might have a general idea in mind. As I work, I abandon any pretext and follow the process letting it guide me. Ultimately, I want the paintings to have a presence to them, an aura that grabs and holds you. The artist Bridget Riley is an influence. Over time, I want the work to reveal itself. With each interaction, a new layer revealed.
Visual Vibrations
Energy into Imagry
When working, I trust the process. I often begin with one idea and work the painting to the point where the initial idea turns into something completely different. Each of the works from this series represent my efforts at saving a painting that I thought, I had at one point, destroyed.
As a way of remembering what was going on in the world, I use the titles as a way of timstamping each work.
To me they are like songs without lyrics.
Cosmic Collage
Japanese decorative paper techniques using kozo fiber paper and sumi ink.“Currently the oldest suminagashi sample dates from the twelfth century, although references to the technique go back to as early as 825–880 c.e. in the poetry of Shigeharu. Suminagashi is often translated as "floating ink." It has been used for various crafts including not only paper but fabrics, metal, and ceramics.”
- Jae Carey, The Metropolitian Museum of Art, 2014
I discovered this technique while between studios. Forced to create from home, this work gave me an outlet to regain the control I lacked in my life during those uncertain times; still settling into New York and hanging on by a thread during the post-2008 recession. Adopting a centuries old Japanese technique, I made prints by floating ink on the surface of the water in my bathtub and then layering paper over the surface. The resulting imagery was a fluid chaos that I meticulously carved out and collaged to form compositions that feel cosmic in origin. Something about lock-down during the pandemic reminded me of those first few years in New York and I felt compelled to revisit the idea, creating a new series.