MERIKA 1974

Victor Vasarely constructed this painting, Merika, with acrylic. Can you imagine the process Vasarely went through to build this picture plane? At first glance, it might seem that this is a very precise geometrical exercise. On second viewing, I'm not sure. Did he use stencils or maybe just some tape? Maybe he was just really good at getting it right. I feel the artist here must have been interested in architecture, playing with forms, maybe thinking about cityscapes, buildings, and modularity. The colours help to create this sense of form. The purple, which seems to recede and make space, is complemented by this earthy yellow. The yellow seems to be the structure, the thing. Vasarely was interested in visual perception, he found new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. We can connect it to the work of so many other artists who explore similar territory, such as Bridget Riley, Josef Albers, Anni Albers, just to name a few. All of these artists show us that the conversation and exchange of ideas never stops, inspiring one another's creativity through time.