Sunday, November 9, 2008

Optic Nerve

I just received a copy of Joe Houston's book titled "Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960's." The book was published in 2007 in conjunction with an exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio. Pictured are the works of a number of forerunners: Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Wassily Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay, Paul Klee. (I've never seen the Delaunay painting, "Portuguese Woman" before and it's fantastic!) The link is to a slightly different version. The one in the book, from the collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, is better, in my opinion. The woman is looking towards the left a little more and her face shows more detail. And of course I like the dots!

All my favorite Op artists are here: Victor Vasarely, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Frank Stella, Bridget Riley, Tadasky (Tadasuke Kuwayama) and Ben Cunningham. And there are many others I haven't heard of. . . over sixty in all are listed in the Artists' Biographies section. The book measures 10x11 inches and contains numerous full page color illustrations, as well as '60's cover art from Vogue, Life and Look. Online you can see some beautiful Tadasky targets and Anuszkiewicz squares as part of the "Optic Visionaries" show at D. Wigmore in NYC.

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