An Overview of Op-Art Architecture

Optical art, widely known as Op-Art, is an art style that focuses on optical illusions. Heavily influenced by contemporary art styles like cubism, neo-futurism, and dada, the birth of Op-Art can be linked to the divisionist painters wanting to increase the luminosity factor in their paintings with the use of optical illusion.1 Op-Art frequently uses basic geometry shapes and creates heavy contrasts which lead observers to perceive the presence of certain movements or vibrance, more often in black & white than not.

Methodology: Colors and Patterns

Optical art is centred around abstraction and is created with the usage of geometric patterns. As an art style, op-art intends to bring the background-foreground confusion in the viewers’ minds by infusing recurring rhythmic patterns, vibrating colour contrasts, moiré patterns, and illusions of movement.2 Ideally, the goal behind op-art is to induce scepticism in the visual perceptions of the audience by playing with the concept of light and shadow and showcasing the same through complicated combinations of highly contrasting colours and patterns. As an art style, op-art merges well with the likes of neo-impressionism, dada, futurism, and more.

Coming to prominence in the 1960s, op-art was officially introduced at the Galerie Denise René in Paris during the Le Mouvement exhibition in 1955. Trailing alongside the notion of movement, the primary artists of op-art explored the idea of developing virtual movement on flat surfaces. Beginning with paintings and then merging into graphics, op-art was gradually introduced in various forms of artistic expression: including architecture.3

Pulsate by Lily Jencks & Nathanael Dorent

Herringbone pattern, but make it 3D: this temporary installation by the Lily Jencks Studio was curated in 2013 for a retail pop-up store for the tile showroom Capitol Designer Studio located in London, England. Going perfectly in theme with how the brand itself works with tiles, this entire installation was created by arranging tiles in a herringbone pattern. But here is where it gets interesting: forgoing the usual angular placement that is associated with the herringbone pattern, the designers decided to apply the tiles in three-dimensional angles in order to make them look more appealing – like a pulsating wave.4

As visible in the photograph above, this installation created a strong sense of differentiation from the outer surroundings which immediately becomes an appealing presence to the passersby. As explained by Jencks, there were two major points to the thought process behind this design. “One is about perception – how you perceive distances and shapes; and make sense of space. The other is about how to display an object that’s for sale; we wanted the space to be more than just a showroom selling tiles; to rethink the commercial transaction as something more creative.”4 As a part of the marketing strategy to attract maximum visitors from the very beginning, this installation was kept in place for the first 9 months after the opening of the showroom and catered to multiple events during that period. 

Peter Kogler’s Monochromatic Op-art Graphics

Working around the idea of considering painting pictures as open-spaced and limited fields,5 Peter Kogler is an Austrian artist who has made his name in the fields of art & architecture by thinking out of the box and interconnecting the two fields on a more spatial level. Kogler’s vision is not limited by boundaries as a lot of his artworks play with the axis while surpassing two-dimensional planes. His graphic designs play with geometry and yet work on breaking the barriers, opening the doors to newer perspectives.

On the topic of op-art, Kogler works on a certain line of thought for most of his artworks: anthropological systems with brain coils, zoological systems with columns of ants, and technological systems with intertwined tube formations.5 Kogler’s working methods have the same motto as what op-art stands for: visual illusions that persuade the audience to perceive spaces – interior and exterior alike – in unfound, exciting, and often pleasantly confusing manners. Kogler works with both monochromatic and iridescent colour themes, all the while keeping the concept of vibrant contrasts consistent. From exhibition installations to airport rooftops, Kogler has worked with multiple physical elements of architecture by bringing along a visually appealing mixture of art, architecture, and technology.

In conclusion, optical art is no less than a modern tribute to what the renaissance stands for: taking a handful of art and catering to it with utmost dedication and sensitivity in order to bring results that are extraordinary. Using basic concepts like colours, patterns, and dimensions in newer and crafty mixtures and methods, op-art presents a more tasteful side of architecture that is visually and intellectually amusing.

REFERENCE LIST:

IMAGES :

1. Riley, B. (1962). Blaze 1. [Painting]. (Accession number : GML 2047, Scotland : National Galleries of Scotland.)
2. Hufton + Crow. (2013). Pulsate. [Photographs]. (London : Capitol Designer Studio.)
3. Untitled. [Photographs]. (Austria : Peter Kogler.)
4. Gorkiewicz, M. (20023). [Photograph]. (Graz, Austria : Manuel Gorkiewicz.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY/EXTERNAL LINKS :

1. Lee, A. (1987). Seurat and Science. Art History, (Vol. 10, No. 2), pp : 203-226. Available from : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8365.1987.tb00250.x [Accessed : 23 July 2024.]
2. Hencz, A. Art Movement: Op Art – History and Famous Works. Artland Magazine. Available from : https://magazine.artland.com/art-movement-op-art/ [Accessed : 25 July 2024.]
3. Op art. National Galleries. Available from : https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/glossary-terms/op-art [Accessed : 25 July 2024.]
4. Hughes, D. (2013). PULSATE INSTALLATION DESIGN BY LILY JENCKS & NATHANAEL DORENT // CAPITOL DESIGNER STUDIO, LONDON. Yellowtrace. Available from : https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/pulsate-installation-design/ [Accessed : 26 July 2024.]
5. Peter Kogler. Typico. Available from : https://www.typico.com/en/art/peter-kogler/ [Accessed : 28 July 2024.]