How does the canvas 'hang'? Part 3 Illusionist Space and Op Art

Illusionist space and Op Art blurs canvas’ frame and internal boundary

Anthony Poon was around about the same time and worked with combining colour theory in relation to illusion with sharp angled (quite mathematical) canvases. Illusionist paint techniques were used to dissipate the control of the canvas ‘walls’ or boundaries and seep the canvas image slightly more fluidly into outside space as far as possible. Also evident in Bridget Riley’s work, although she stuck to the traditional rectangular canvas. Knowledge of colour theory and it’s relation to line in terms of creating movement and dizzying sensation on the canvas creates an optical fairytale projective space. Repetition of measured lines and relation of colour theory work create hypnotising compositions that inject the canvas with it’s own escaping virtual reality which fuses with our consciousness. The context involved interactive participation with for example the Happenings which negated a boundary between the artwork and the viewer. The swinging sixties and it’s psychedelic culture undoubtedly bear links to this dizzying, hallucinogenic work. Experimentation with drugs and the boundaries the mind could be pushed to, if it aided artistic production, was definitely apparent. Pop Art and commercial ‘pop’ block colours with their instant memorable active imprint in comparison to natural ones of the past common also. This style definitely made the canvas ‘alive’ and the negation of fixed subject matter pulls concentration back to the canvas as powerful alone.

Others such as Yayoi Kusama experimented with optical effects from a slightly more minimalist angle, for example within her Infinity Net Paintings. Inspired by the texture and repetitive spread of patterns in fishermans’ nets her paintings use this archetype in a minimalist fashion to create a dizzy vision, dots and net like tiny vignettes that flow up and down the canvas as if at sea. The interaction between the monotone background and the flowing ‘nets’ or curved dots create a tension giving the canvas a playful depth. This organic hypnotic visual and rhythm open the canvas’ walls up into a kind of infinite pictorial space. Many have compared her work to that of the Abstract Expressionists who experimented with such ideas also.