Two Blues 2003

Bridget Riley made this painting, "Two Blues," with, I imagine, a heck of a lot of masking tape. I can picture her, carefully plotting those cool, crisp lines, one after the other. What's interesting to me is how this seemingly simple idea—these interlocking shapes of dark blue, light blue, and white—starts to feel kind of dizzying after a while. It's like your eye wants to find a place to rest, but the painting just keeps shifting. I bet Riley was thinking about how colors interact, how they push and pull against each other. It reminds me a bit of some of the Op Art guys, but Riley's got this way of making it all feel a bit more…organic? Like these shapes are breathing or flowing. You can see how her work links back to earlier color field painters, but she takes it in a totally new direction. What a great legacy to be part of.