Vp-Cheyt 75 1975

Victor Vasarely made this screenprint titled Vp-Cheyt 75 with red, black and white geometric shapes on a tan ground, and the interplay of these blocks is where the magic happens. The colors are laid down flat, so clean and crisp it’s hard to believe a human was involved in placing them; they almost seem to self-generate, which only amplifies the work’s sense of optical illusion. The surface has a smooth, almost glassy quality, but don’t be fooled—there’s a palpable tension here, a kind of visual vibration that makes you question your own perception. It’s like staring into a perfectly ordered abyss. Vasarely reminds me of Bridget Riley, but where she’s all about the wiggle, he’s about the *pop*. Neither gives you a stable ground, but I suspect they both give you pleasure, too. Like the best art, it's the kind that embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations over any fixed meaning.