Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961-2014

"Well, the whole venture of being a modern artist could be called irrelevant and superficial," Bridget Riley is quoted from a 1978 conversation with Robert Kudielka which is reproduced in David Zwirner's stunning newmonograph. "But leaving aside that aspect of your question: if one wants to do something at all, which is fundamental to being an artist, one soon realizes that as a modern artist you have to find something to do it with. It can be anything provided it takes you out of yourself and helps you to act freely. Earlier I chose form, and later color, which I believe to be more precise because it is closer to our experience of the real world. Unstable and incalculable, it is also rich and comforting. For a painter it is an ideal vehicle because it can be both a revelation and merely the surface of things." Après Midi (1981) is reproduced from Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961-2014.