Review: Bridget Riley at the Hayward Gallery

“Looking is, I feel, a vital aspect of existence. Perception constitutes our awareness of what it is to be human, indeed what it is to be alive.”

Bridget Riley, 2017

This particular statement really resonates with me as an art historian and colourist who spends time exploring, looking and trying to really see and connect with what’s in front of me. It’s always useful to have a label alongside an artwork, but it can be an immense distraction too. Better look and see for yourself.

This exhibition of Bridget Riley’s art through her working life from 1947 to present day is impressive in its scope and impact. It all leads us from her beginnings in Art School, the painter influences in her life and her move from figurative to abstract art; black and white to colour. Laura Cumming’s captures this impact brilliantly in her article for The Guardian: “Bridget Riley review – still finding new ways to dazzle and exhilarate.”

Her life drawing and interest in impressionist art illustrates how Riley experimented by looking closely at those artists that were also experimenting with colour and design in their own time.  Riley appreciated Paul Klee’s idea of ‘taking a line for a walk’. And it is clear from her study and copies of Seurat’s pointillist paintings how Riley began to explore colour and move to develop her powerful stripes.

One of the most interesting aspects of this exhibition is how we’re invited into Riley’s working process. I was intrigued to see the use of graph paper, mathematics and detailed design notations to work out how all the individual elements are brought together to deliver these shimmering artworks.

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There’s a plethora of monumental images, which quite frankly can be challenging to look at for too long. They really do seem to move, change and indeed, shimmer as you gaze upon them.  I encourage anyone who can make it to London before the end of January to take time out to dive into this exhibition. You may think Bridget Riley is all about black and white lines or circles. This show explodes that myth. It demonstrates how the foundations of Riley’s work are built on traditional figurative painting, studying artists from the Renaissance through to the contemporary and continuing to explore the fundamentals of perception.

Take a look!

5 Stars

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Bridget Riley retrospective exhibition is at the Hayward Gallery, London until 26 January 2020. It is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date.