Paris-Tokyo #1 1980

Victor Vasarely made this print, Paris-Tokyo #1, with its wild perspective and a very precise silkscreen, at some point in his career. The colours are what got me first: a range of reds, from grey-pink to a deep maroon, all sitting next to cool greys. It almost feels like a set of swatches. Vasarely clearly has a system, but then he undermines the system with these weird shifts in colour and tone. There’s this sphere at the end of the tunnel, made up of shifting reds and greys, and it creates a real optical buzz. It’s not just flat; it’s alive and pulsating. Vasarely reminds me a bit of Bridget Riley, in that they both mess with your eyes and brain. But where Riley is all about the surface, Vasarely is diving deep into space, even if that space is totally fake.