Procion-R 1959 - 1962

Victor Vasarely made this geometric painting, Procion-R, with very controlled moves. The image came into being as if by a carefully devised set of instructions. What would it be like to be Vasarely, so committed to the grid? The surface is flat, hard-edged. There are no brushstrokes to be seen. It makes me wonder, what kind of conversation was he having with other artists? Did he feel connected to the world of Abstract Expressionism, which privileged gesture, mess, and the mark of the hand? Or was he trying to create something completely different? While some painters make their presence known through texture and expressive marks, Vasarely seems to disappear, creating a world based on pure logic and optical sensation. Yet, in its own way, this too is an embodied expression. It just embraces a different kind of conversation and invites different kinds of viewers.