VE-LA-B n° 2711 1974

Curator: Up next, we have “VE-LA-B n° 2711” painted in 1974 by Victor Vasarely. Editor: It feels like staring into a really cool, well-organized beehive, but in the late 70s. Or maybe one of those visual tests they give you at the optometrist. Is that an accurate feeling? Curator: I think it is. Vasarely was, after all, a master of Op Art, an abstract style that creates optical illusions using geometric forms and contrasting colors. What’s amazing to me is that with just acrylic paint, he achieved this pulsating effect, which appears almost three-dimensional. Editor: Right, this piece plays tricks with your perception. Look closer. He uses grey and red circular forms within a grid, shifting their arrangement to make them appear to bulge outwards. And given its acrylic, the flatness contradicts the spherical effect—it's like a trompe-l'oeil denying its own medium. Did he have an army of assistants? Imagine the labor! Curator: Actually, it is my understanding that Vasarely often employed a systematic, almost industrial approach. I’d guess he saw it as a democratization of art – reproducible and scalable – somewhat disconnected from the artist's hand, or so he argued. But when you step back and look at the final work, it's about perception itself becoming a tangible reality. Editor: I agree that’s the outcome; but I think that is too forgiving. While embracing modernity, maybe there was some alienated labor involved! I am more interested in how the mechanical process serves consumer culture more than any transcendence to visual possibilities. Anyway, even with all this, do you think a machine could achieve such subtle gradients? It's almost haunting to consider. Curator: In many ways, no, I think it’s difficult to fully disconnect his emotional imprint, you sense he’s after something metaphysical, some revelation through the optical, right? A portal beyond flat surfaces. Editor: Well, now I'm picturing this as a very stylish escape hatch! It certainly throws you for a loop.