ORA – MC 1975

Victor Vasarely made ORA – MC without a specified date using a grid of colorful squares that seem to play tricks on your eyes. It's almost as if he's saying, "Hey, art is a process of perception, not just representation." Looking at the work, the material aspect is so important; the way the colors vibrate against each other, pushing and pulling the surface, makes it hard to fix your gaze. Notice how the squares near the center appear to stretch into the distance. Is it a tunnel, or is the surface bulging out? Vasarely uses color and shape to create a push-pull effect that messes with our sense of space. Vasarely's interest in geometric abstraction can be seen in the work of artists like Josef Albers who were deeply invested in the exploration of color theory. Like them, Vasarely shows us that art is an ongoing experiment, embracing ambiguity and multiple viewpoints.