Loss 1964

Editor: This is Bridget Riley’s "Loss," created in 1964. It's a black and white geometric piece made with emulsion on board, and the repetition of circles, graduating from dark to light, creates this unsettling sense of depth and movement. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What I find fascinating about "Loss" is how it embodies the socio-political anxieties of its time through purely abstract means. The 1960s were a period of intense upheaval, with the Cold War looming large and societal norms being radically questioned. How might Riley, working in a predominantly male art world, have been processing these anxieties through her art? Editor: That’s a good question! I hadn’t really considered gender in relation to this work. Is it fair to say her experience as a woman impacted her abstraction? Curator: It’s about more than gender alone. As an artist breaking ground in Op Art, Riley disrupted the status quo in several ways. Consider the rigid, often hierarchical structures that define power. Riley uses geometry, a typically rational and ordered system, to create instability. The work's title, "Loss," is key: what might that loss represent? Is it a loss of control, perhaps? Or maybe the loss of certainty in a rapidly changing world? How does the stark contrast between black and white play into this narrative? Editor: So the fading effect creates that visual disruption, linking formal elements to broader ideas about societal changes, like… maybe the erosion of traditional structures? Curator: Precisely! This work offers an opportunity to investigate intersectional oppressions and challenge fixed, singular ways of viewing. "Loss," in this light, transcends mere optical illusion to become a powerful statement about the instability of power. Editor: I will never look at Op Art the same way again. Thank you! Curator: And thank you for these brilliant questions. It shows how looking closely at these artworks helps us understand and maybe even face some bigger challenges today.