Daniel Reason

5th November 2014

What If? Metropolis

Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley was born on 24th April 1931 and is an English

painter, who is well known for her Op-Art work.
Her influences include the likes of Georges Seurat, Victor
Vasarely and Giacomo Balla.
Each of these artists inspired different styles and features
of her work.
Rileys work borders on being considered as optical
illusions as they can give the impression of movement or
obscurity, within a still piece.
She doesnt use detail, but in some of examples of her
work, like Fall she uses hundreds of straight lines to add
tone and depth.
I really like her work because, although considering that
her work in most cases is just a series of lines, it would be
incredibly difficult to perfect, and she manages to create
such crazy effects and images
Her work gets you to really look closely at her work and
this makes you appreciate her level of devotion as they
must take an incredibly long time to complete.

Influence Map

This influence map shows some of Bridget Rileys work. I really like opart as it borders on being considered as illusions as some of the
images look like theyre moving, especially if you look at them for a
while. I could look at similar artist, maybe M.C. Escher because
although he didnt do op-art he did create some interest forms of
architecture, that can be useful, and so I can get inspiration from his
work to do the same for Bridget Rileys work.

Travelogue
The city grabs your eye and twists it until it cannot bear to understand. The impossible
setting is a sight none will sharply forget. Its labyrinth of streets will lose the most
organised of characters. The twist and turns of the simplest of alleys will take you
somewhere untraveled. The city does not work too well with reason as its absurd
architecture stands proud, towering over the lake. Its intricate level of detail is
indescribable as no exact set of words can evaluate what is happening. The citys wavy
skyscrapers and markets create the impression of being in a magical world. The city hides
among a layer of fog and so cannot be seen by the approaching sailors. The lake is littered
with debris, but they themselves manage to blend within the waves, it is a sight to
behold.
The city is surrounded by an 8 eight foot high metal fence. Its bar look near to full
transparency from a distance, but once the city has been fully approached, it is clear that
the city is imprisoned by itself. This creates the illusion, in the mind, of oncoming
travellers that the city can be easily accessed, but as soon as you get close enough it grabs
your attention and draws you in, and that is how you become a resident of this dark
enigma of a city.
Upon reaching the entrance of this magnificent city, you begin to feel dizzy. The city is
moving. You cannot begin to understand. Trying to put an explanation into what your
eyes are gazing towards will lose you in a moment of near to insanity. We dare not
question the city as the city evolves according to the seasons. During spring, the darkness
of winter begins to fade and the buildings resume their ongoing growth towards the sky.
The summer grabs the colour of the waves and splashes it onto the buildings ferociously.
In the month of November, the extended summer concludes and welcomes the red
breeze of autumn. The red, the yellows and the oranges all run at you screaming and so
there is no way to escape this month long season. The robotic residents of the city adore
the winter months. It is within this period where the city loses some of its colourful
charm and replaces it with the white of snow. It covers every little piece of the city. The
snow does not want you to begin to understand the city, it wants you to feel the cold
wind hitting the back of your neck while you squint into the foggy distance. The winter
months aim, therefore, is to make you want to escape it series of mazes.
There are no children in this city. People do not get raised in this city. People do not get
married in this city. The people wake up, go to work and come home. Its an 8am to 6pm
routine 7 days a week. There is no moment to relax. The city need to run perfectly in
order to maintain its mystery as without the mystery will begin to fade.
In the distance, you may just manage to make out the lighthouse, which stands alone
amongst the rocks. The red and white building can be seen best at night. Its
extraordinary beam of light flies through your window and whacks you on the face, like a
slap from the wind. It is at this moment where you feel warmth growing inside you and
the pleasure of belonging to this magnificent city runs through your veins.

Thumbnails

These are my first 37 thumbnails for this project. Obviously, I havent

done as many as I would have liked at this stage, so I am quite far
behind in comparison to other students. I think there has a been a
slight lack of focus, admittedly, but I also think that the reason for why
it has taken me a while to start making them and why there arent
that many is because I am struggling to come up with ideas. Bridget
Rileys work is quite confusing on the eye and I want my city to show
that. Her work doesnt include any shapes that can be used to create
silhouettes or new shapes. Also with the first 13 thumbnails, which I
think are better than the ones that follow, I think they look good in 2D
but they would be incredibly hard to make in Maya. Number 12, for
example, is my favourite but I have absolutely no idea how that would
look on Maya. Over the coming days, I will put a lot more work in as I
am not happy with how few and, quite frankly, how poor my
thumbnails are.