D- ERIVAN – II 1956

Editor: So, this is Victor Vasarely’s "D-ERIVAN-II," a mixed media piece from 1956. It's stark, black and white, with geometric shapes sliced by horizontal lines. I’m initially struck by how disorienting it is; it feels like the shapes are both emerging and disappearing simultaneously. What symbolic weight do you think these recurring motifs, like the circles, squares and lines, carried for Vasarely? Curator: This work plays with visual perception and the destabilization of form. These geometric figures aren't merely abstract; they evoke a sense of technological progress and mathematical order that was ascendant in the mid-20th century. Do you think those lines simply dissect the shapes, or do they, perhaps, build them as well? Editor: That’s an interesting question! I guess the lines could be interpreted as foundational, not just destructive. They give a sense of constant construction or even of digitized forms before actual computer graphics became a medium. Was he perhaps commenting on an increasingly ordered and rationalized world through that imagery? Curator: Precisely! Vasarely was fascinated by the power of images to manipulate the eye and the mind. By repeatedly employing this visual vocabulary, he taps into the subconscious desire for order, only to playfully subvert it with optical ambiguity. Editor: So, it is as if he uses familiar symbols only to pull the rug out from under our feet! It definitely makes you question what you see, and why. Curator: It's a game, a dance between order and chaos played out through the language of geometric symbols. This resonates with an era marked by both utopian aspirations and anxieties surrounding technology. The enduring nature of simple shapes suggests how humanity returns to elementary principles. Editor: I hadn’t thought about the anxiety part. So much more to it than initially meets the eye! Curator: It’s a fascinating look into how we build up what we take to be 'real,' both visually and culturally.