Rose Rose (London 2012 Olympic Games Poster) 2012

Bridget Riley made ‘Rose Rose’ as a poster for the 2012 London Olympic Games, using screen printing, I reckon. Look at these horizontal bands of colour, like stripes on a beach towel, each one a slightly different width, and all of them bumping up against one another. Riley is playing with perception and how colours interact - and impact - each other. It's a super-flat surface but somehow it feels like it's vibrating. Check out how she’s layered warmer tones, oranges and pinks, against cooler blues and greens. It’s not about depth of field; it’s a dance on the surface. The magic is in how she orchestrates these colours, like notes in a musical score. Riley's work, especially in the 1960s, was very influential on other artists who explored perception and abstraction. She's like a conductor of colour, and invites us to experience painting as a dynamic, ever-shifting field of possibilities.