Pulsar – Va 1968 - 1970

Victor Vasarely made "Pulsar - Va" with geometric shapes, probably with stencils and precise measuring. I’m thinking about the hand of the artist, the planning, the making, the erasing. But the feeling, too, that the image could also go on forever. Look how the squares and diamonds have been arranged to create a feeling of optical illusion and movement. Like it’s both coming out at you, and receding into itself. It looks like the image has been built up with thin layers of smooth gradients, creating a hard edge of gold between the different tonal values. It’s kind of mesmerizing, I could get lost in there, thinking about all the different directions and depths implied by this painting. It reminds me of those tessellating patterns by Escher, but it’s also totally its own thing. Optical art is the kind of thing that makes you wonder – what else is out there, can painting change the way you see things?