Zaphir, from Album Lapidaire 1964

Victor Vasarely made this print, Zaphir, as part of his Album Lapidaire. It's all crisp edges and flat planes of color. You know, when I look at this, I think about how much control Vasarely exerted over his process. There's no visible brushwork, no gloppy texture, just these clean shapes bumping up against each other. Check out the upper left corner: that floating parallelogram is filled with the lightest shade of blue, really emphasizing the sense of depth as it sits in front of the other shapes. Vasarely’s Op Art reminds me a bit of Bridget Riley's work, but with less wiggle. You can see that in both artists, there's this invitation to let your eye bounce around, to find new relationships between the elements each time you look. It’s a painting that keeps moving, even though it’s perfectly still.